SNG | Sour Shift

In the gasification unit, a carbon-containing material such as coal, petcoke or biomass reacts with a controlled amount of oxygen and steam at high temperature. Sour shift, or sulfur-tolerant shift, is analogous to the water-gas shift reaction and is implemented in gasification-based processes to enrich the hydrogen content of syngas. This process is used in hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, SNG and IGCC power plants around the world.

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Depending on the desired carbon monoxide conversion, the sour shift process can be carried out in either one or several steps. Multiple reactors, typically with cooling between each bed, are required for high carbon monoxide conversion due to the equilibrium characteristics of the sour shift reaction.

The high performance of Topsoe’s sour shift guard material (GSSK) and catalyst (SSK-10) is well-proven under all operating conditions, and SSK series catalysts have consequently been installed in some of the world’s largest sour shift installations.

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GSSK

Used to protect the downstream sour shift catalyst from dust and other impurities

SSK-10

Cobalt-molybdenum (CoMo)-based sour shift catalyst for HTS, MTS and LTS applications.

SSK-20

Active guard/ high-temperature sour shift catalyst SSK-20 is a cobalt-molybdenum (CoMo)-based ...

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Applications within this area

Gasification

In the gasification unit, a carbon-containing material such as coal, petcoke or biomass reacts with a controlled amount of oxygen and steam at high temperature. This results in a raw synthesis gas consisting of CO, ...

Sour shift

In the gasification unit, a carbon-containing material such as coal, petcoke or biomass reacts with a controlled amount of oxygen and steam at high temperature.

COS hydrolysis

In some process layouts, it is beneficial to reduce the amount of carbonyl sulfide (COS) before the process gas is sent to the Acid Gas Removal (AGR) unit.

Acid gas removal

In the Acid Gas Removal (AGR) unit, the majority of the sulfur compounds and the carbon dioxide are removed from the process gas.

Feed purification

In the feed purification process step, the final removal of sulfur in the form of hydrogen sulfide, carbonyl sulfide and other sulfur compounds takes place.

Gas conditioning

In the gas conditioning step, part of the carbon monoxide present in the process gas reacts with steam forming carbon dioxide and hydrogen while releasing heat.

Methanation

In the SNG methanation process step, the final conversion of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and hydrogen into the SNG product takes place.

LNG production

If desired, it is possible to liquefy the SNG made via the Topsoe TREMP™ process to produce LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) for further distribution.