NATURAL GAS PROCESSING METHOD Russian patent published in 2022 - IPC C01B3/38 C01B3/24 C07C31/04 C07C1/02 

FIELD: natural gas processing.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a method for processing natural gas and can be used in the oil refining industry and in the industry of organic synthesis. Natural gas is subjected to steam reforming at elevated temperature and pressure to form a wet converted gas with a temperature of 860-830°C and a pressure of 20-30 atm. Then the resulting wet converted gas is cooled to a temperature of 360-450°C and separated into two gas streams. The first of the streams is sent sequentially to the carbon monoxide conversion stage, the cooling stage and the pressure swing adsorption stage with the release of the target hydrogen and the gas phase. The latter is sent to steam reforming as a fuel. The second gas flow after cooling to a temperature of 30-40°C and moisture release is directed either to the stage of obtaining methanol, or to the stage of obtaining synthetic liquid hydrocarbons. In the case of obtaining methanol, the second gas stream is pre-compressed to 50.0-90 atm. The first gas stream before being sent to the carbon monoxide conversion stage is mixed with waste gas from the methanol production process to ensure that the volume ratio in the resulting mixture of water vapor and gas is at least 0.6. In the case of obtaining synthetic liquid hydrocarbons, the second gas stream is subjected to Fischer-Tropsch synthesis on a cobalt catalyst, while the first gas stream, before being sent to the stage of carbon monoxide conversion, is mixed with waste gas from the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, ensuring that the volume ratio in the resulting mixture of water vapor and gas is not less than 0.6. Separation of the initial stream of converted gas into two gas streams is carried out in a volume ratio of the first gas stream to the second gas stream in the case of obtaining methanol 1:0.33-0.43, and in the case of obtaining synthetic liquid hydrocarbons 1:0.21 to prevent the formation

solid carbon in the process of carbon monoxide conversion.

EFFECT: ensuring the restructuring of technological flows in the process of natural gas processing while minimizing production waste.

1 cl