Skip to Main Content
  • English 
  • Español 
  • Linde Worldwide
  • The Linde Group
  • About Linde
  • Engineering
    Uruguay

  • Welcome
  • About Linde Engineering
      • Management
        • Dr Christian Bruch
        • Juergen Nowicki
        • John van der Velden
        • Tilman Weide
      • Locations
        • Linde Engineering Dresden
        • Linde Engineering Schalchen Plant
        • Selas-Linde GmbH
        • Linde Kryotechnik AG
        • Cryo AB
        • Cryostar SAS
        • Linde CryoPlants Ltd.
        • Moscow Representative Office
        • Linde Engineering Rus, OOO
        • Linde Engineering North America Inc. - Tulsa, Oklahoma
        • Selas Linde North America
        • Hydro-Chem
        • Linde Engineering North America Inc. - Houston Office
        • Linde Engineering India Pvt. Ltd.
        • Linde Engineering (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd.
        • Linde Engineering (Dalian) Co., Ltd.
        • Linde Arabian Contracting Co. Ltd.
        • Linde Engineering Middle East LLC
        • Linde Engineering Korea Ltd.
        • Linde Engineering South Africa (Pty) Ltd.
      • Quality, Health, Safety & Environment (QHSE)
        • QHSE at construction sites
        • Certificates and awards
      • Collaborate.Innovate.Deliver.
        • Collaborate.
        • Innovate.
        • Deliver.
  • Process Plants
      • Air separation plants
        • Customised air separation plants
        • Modular air separation plants
        • Containerised air separation plants
        • References
      • LNG and natural gas processing plants
        • Liquefied natural gas (LNG)
        • Natural gas liquids (NGL)
        • Nitrogen rejection
        • Helium recovery and liquefaction
        • References
      • Hydrogen and synthesis gas plants
        • Gas products
        • Gas generation
        • Gas processing plants
      • Petrochemical plants
        • Steamcracking technology
        • Acetylene recovery technology
        • Linear alpha olefins (LAOs)
        • Polyolefin plants
        • Third-party technologies
        • Gemini - Oxidative coupling of methane (OCM)
        • References
      • Adsorption and membrane plants
        • Membrane plants
        • Hydrogen recovery and purification
        • Oxygen generator plants
        • Nitrogen generation
        • Carbon dioxide removal and purification
      • Cryogenic plants
        • Helium liquefiers
        • Helium refrigeration plants
        • Hydrogen liquefiers
        • Helium recovery systems
        • Equipment and accessories
      • CO₂ plants
        • References
        • CO₂ purification and liquefaction
        • Carbon capture
      • Furnaces, fired heaters and incinerators
        • Steam reformer furnaces
        • Cracking furnaces for ethylene production
        • Cryogenic vaporiser
        • Fired heaters and waste heat recovery units
        • DRI heaters & special crackers
        • Incinerators and thermal oxidisers
  • Plant Components
      • Plate-fin heat exchangers (PFHEs)
        • Plate-fin heat exchangers – Design variants
      • Packaged units / coldboxes
      • Cryogenic columns
      • Coil-wound heat exchangers (CWHEs)
      • Cryogenic tanks
        • Customer Information Centre
      • Air-heated vaporisers
      • Water bath vaporisers
      • Spiral-welded aluminium pipes
      • Helium storage tanks
      • UN portable tank (HELICS™)
      • Operational services
  • Services
      • Engineering
        • Modularisation
      • Procurement
        • Supplier portal
      • Construction
      • Export and project financing
  • Innovations
      • Virtual reality redefines plant engineering
      • Innovative dry reforming process
      • FlexASU®
  • LINDE PLANTSERV™
      • Know-how and experience
      • Reliability
      • Efficiency and performance
  • News & Media
      • Press Services
        • Interview Digitalisation
      • Press Releases
      • Linde @ Social Media
        • Facebook
        • Twitter
        • YouTube
        • Google+
        • LinkedIn
        • Miscellaneous
        • Social Media Guidelines
      • Events
        • Nitrogen & Syngas 2019
        • LNG 2019
        • 11th Hydrogen and Syngas Symposium 2019
      • Publications
      • Linde Apps
        • C-Pot
        • Gas Converter
        • Gas distribution partner-search
        • Fascinating Gases
        • Virtual World
        • Virtual Cryo
        • BOC re-order
        • Afrox Shop
      • Video Library
      • Media Contacts
  • Careers
      • Work @ Linde
      • People @ Linde
        • License to Fill
        • Matthias & the Mechanics
        • The Pathfinder
        • Giving Back
      • Roles @ Linde
        • Engineers & Technicians
        • Sales & Customer Service
        • Healthcare & Homecare
        • Corporate Functional Staff & Admins
        • Operational Staff, Fillers & Drivers
      • Jobs @ Linde
        • Locations worldwide
      • Students & Graduates @ Linde
        • School Students
        • University Students
        • University Graduates
      • Apply @ Linde
      • Job Blog
        • A Dream Job
        • A New Home
        • Insider Tips
        • Shell Eco-marathon
        • Shell Eco-marathon London
        • Shell Eco-marathon: Driving change
        • A whole new weld
        • Mission: Impossible
        • Into the future: at the push of a button
        • Get with the programme
        • Shell Eco-marathon: Learning from the young
        • Many cultures, one company: Linde Global Services
        • Spark of genius
        • Commissioning engineers
  • Contact
  •  
  • Language
    • English
    • Español
  • Linde Worldwide
  • The Linde Group
  • About Linde
  • Process Plants
  • Air separation plants
  • LNG and natural gas processing plants
  • Hydrogen and synthesis gas plants
    • Gas products
    • Gas generation
      • Steam reforming
      • Partial oxidation
      • Tandem reforming
      • CO shift conversion
      • Isothermal reactor
    • Gas processing plants
  • Petrochemical plants
  • Adsorption and membrane plants
  • Cryogenic plants
  • CO₂ plants
  • Furnaces, fired heaters and incinerators
  • Process Plants
  • Hydrogen and synthesis gas plants
  • Gas generation
  • CO shift conversion

CO shift conversion For additional generation of hydrogen in synthesis gas the CO shift conversion is applied downstream of other syngas generation processes of hydrocarbon feedstocks.

At the outlet of steam reformers, partial oxidation reactors or coke oven gas units the syngas contains H2, CO, CO2, CH4 and water in chemical equilibrium at high temperatures in the range of 700 to 1400 °C depending on the process pressure and the mixture of feed stock and process steam or water.

By means of the CO shift conversion an important portion of the CO content in the cracked gas is used for additional hydrogen generation, which is following the chemical reaction

CO  +  H2O  <=>  H2  +  CO2 

This process is exothermic and is limited by the chemical equilibrium.

There are three different versions of CO shift conversion:

  • High temperature (HT) CO shift conversion at about 300 to 450 °C down to approx. 2.5 % CO on dry basis at the reactor outlet

  • Medium temperature (MT) CO shift conversion or so-called isothermal shift conversion at about 220 to 270 °C down to approx. 0.5 % CO on dry basis at the reactor outlet.

  • Low temperature (LT) CO shift conversion at about 180 to 250 °C down to approx. 0.2 % CO on dry basis at the reactor outlet

For every process a special catalyst will be used in a fixed bed reactor to get maximum yield of H2 product.

The use of HT CO shift conversion is state of the art in almost every hydrogen plant.

The application of the low temperature CO shift conversion is normally installed downstream of the HT shift at already reduced CO content in the feed gas.

The additional investment is considered for plants having a capacity above approx. 40,000 Nm³/h H2 product. The catalyst of the LT shift is very sensitive against sulphur, chlorine and liquid water and special attention is required during start up and plant upset conditions.

In former concepts the LT shift was important because of the downstream methanisation of CO following the CO2 removal unit, to meet the product purity at minimum H2 losses. After the implementation of the Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA unit) for H2 purification these process steps have become obsolete.

The MT CO shift conversion as isothermal reaction can be approximated in several adiabatic reactors with intercoolers or better in an isothermal reactor with integrated steam generation for cooling of the process gas. The temperature of the shift reaction is controlled easily by setting the pressure of the generated steam.

Any questions?
  • Contact

    Contact us
Downloads
Hydrogen(PDF 3.0 MB)
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • YouTube
    • Xing
    • Terms of Use
    • Legal Notice
    • Data Protection
  • © The Linde Group 2018

To enhance your user experience and to deliver our online services, this website uses cookies for reasons of functionality, comfort and statistics. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
You can find out more on our data protection information.
You must check the "I accept cookies from Linde Sites" box to accept.
More