Water and Your Shift Coverter –

Hero or Villain?
This paper will look at the effect of water in both the HTS and LTS. For HTS it will discuss the
impact of boiler failures, and over-reduction with too little steam. It will also consider the effect of
steam on LTS (including the impact on methanol by-production) and good quench system designs

Frances Lynch and Sue Appleton

Johnson Matthey Catalysts

1 Introduction quirements of the reforming section (i.e. the steam to

carbon ratio inlet the primary reformer), the heat load

W ater, normally present as steam entering

the shift vessels, is the hero of the shift
reaction converting CO into CO2, both
generating additional hydrogen and thereby minimizing
the hydrogen consumed by residual CO in the methana-
tion stage. However water can also be a villain. Too
little water can lead to over reduction of HTS, or too
much can lead to condensation on LTS significantly
shortening catalysts lives. Boiler leaks can damage
HTS catalysts. Water affects by-product methanol for-
mation on LTS catalysts.
We will cover the benefits of water in the shift reac-
tion and how to avoid the damage it can cause when
problems occur.
2 Water – Hero of the Shift Reaction
The water gas shift reaction is represented by the
equation shown below:
CO + H2O » CO2 + H2 ∆H = -41.1 kJ/mol
The reaction is exothermic, and equilibrium will fa-
vour CO conversion at low temperatures, while being
unaffected by pressure. A high steam to dry gas ratio
will also favour CO conversion. The steam to dry gas
ratio is determined by three factors. These are the re-
required by the CO2 reboilers (generated by cooling the
reformed gas and associated steam) and the need to pre-
vent over reduction of the HTS catalyst. The steam to
dry gas ratio at the inlet of a HTS or LTS bed is fixed
by the steam to carbon ratio at the inlet of the primary
reformer and upstream steam or water quench addition.
In an adiabatic system, the converter exit temperature
determines the CO slip achievable. Conversion in a sin-
gle bed of catalyst is equilibrium limited and as reaction
proceeds the exotherm, which leads to a temperature rise
and hence a reduction in approach to equilibrium, even-
tually restricts further reaction. This limitation is typi-
cally overcome with a two-stage system - a High Tem-
perature Shift followed by Low Temperature Shift - with
inter-bed cooling, as illustrated in Figure 1. Alternatively,
a single stage isothermal reactor can be used. However,
due to the higher outlet temperature from an isothermal
shift (ITS), the CO conversion is less than for the
HTS/LTS combination and therefore the CO inlet con-
centration to the methanator is higher.
3 High Temperature Shift Converters
High Temperature Shift (HTS) converters are usu-
ally the first step in converting CO to CO2 in ammonia
plants, typically reducing CO concentrations from 10 –
15% (dry molar basis) to 2 – 4%. Typical inlet tem-

2003 249 AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL


Figure 1. Typical CO Variation in HTS and LTS
Catalyst Beds.
peratures are between 330 – 350°C (626-662°F). Exit
temperatures depend on the CO conversion and inlet
temperature. The temperature rise across the HTS con-
verter is normally in the region of 50 to 70 °C (90 to
126 °F). Operating pressure does not have a significant
impact on CO conversion, and most HTS converters on
ammonia operate in the region of 30 bar (435 psi).
HTS converters are typically axial flow, although
some plants have retrofitted either axial-radial or radial
designs to reduce pressure drop across the vessel and
thereby allow for plant uprates. The inlet temperature
is normally controlled by a by-pass on the upstream
waste heat boiler. A small number of plants, usually
plants operating with a low steam to carbon ratio to the
reformer such as POx units, have saturators followed by
steam addition or quench systems. Quench systems are
also retrofitted for temperature control on plants where
the waste heat boiler exit temperature is too high.
The minimum achievable inlet temperature for a
high temperature shift converter is normally defined by
a limit on the upstream waste heat boiler. Typically
this is determined by the heat exchange area of the
waste heat boiler coupled with the steam side tempera-
ture. On some plants this can be as low as 310°C
(590°F) at start of run (SOR) while in other plants this
can be as high as 370°C (698°F) depending on the per-
formance of the upstream heat exchanger. As the HTS
catalyst ages, the catalyst activity decreases due to
thermal sintering. Therefore normal operating practice
is to increase the inlet temperature to optimize the oper-
ating conditions to provide the lowest possible CO slip.
Whilst operating at a lower temperature gives a lower
equilibrium CO slip, operating at a higher temperature
ensures that the reaction rate is maximized and there-
fore the approach to equilibrium is as close as possible.
The optimum operating point is therefore the inlet tem-
perature that gives the best balance between these two
effects in order to achieve the lowest possible CO slip.
AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL
Water can affect the HTS reaction in a number of
different ways. As already discussed in section 1, proc-
ess steam is important as it is one of the components
that determines the equilibrium composition of the gas
and therefore the CO slip from the converter. Many
ammonia plants world-wide have uprated their plants
and in doing so have reduced the normal operating
steam to carbon ratio. This has the effect of increasing
the equilibrium CO slip at the exit of the HTS con-
verter, which in turn leads to a higher equilibrium CO
slip from the LTS converter. For plant uprates there is
therefore a trade-off between front end pressure drop
and plant efficiency (as more CO must be methanated).
Condensation of process steam in the high tempera-
ture shift converter is only an issue during start-up and
shut-down of the plant since inlet temperatures are
normally in the region of 330 – 350°C (626-662°F)
while the dew point of the inlet gas in normally around
190 °C (374 °F). (This is based on typical plant operat-
ing conditions as outlined in Appendix 1). Waste Heat
boiler leaks tend to have a far more significant effect on
plant operation than condensation of process steam.
3.1 Catalyst over Reduction and
Hydrocarbon Formation
HTS catalysts are almost always reduced in-situ
during plant start-up after a catalyst change. During the
normal reduction process Fe2O3 (haematite) is reduced
to Fe3O4 (magnetite). The reduction procedure is
shown in equations 1 & 2 below.
3Fe2O3 + H2 º 2Fe3O4 + H2O
∆H = -16.3kJ/mol (1)
3Fe2O3 + CO º 2Fe3O4 +CO2
∆H = +24.8kJ/mol (2)
However, if the steam to dry gas ratio is too low
during the reduction it is possible to over-reduce the
catalyst to form iron oxide and then iron as shown in
equations 3 to 6.
Fe3O4 + H2 º 3FeO + H2O
∆H = -63.8 kJ/mol (3)
Fe3O4 + CO º 3FeO + CO2
∆H = -22.6 kJ/mol (4)
FeO + H2 º Fe + H2O
∆H = -28.5 kJ/mol (5)
FeO + CO º Fe + CO2
∆H = +12.6 kJ/mol (6)
250 2003
 Figure 2 shows the stable phases for iron and its erage heat flux in the waste heat boilers between the
oxides. secondary reformer and the HTS reactor. Higher heat
fluxes have tended to increase the incidence of boiler
tube failures. Such boiler tube failures can have a
10 significant effect on the operation of the HTS reactor
9 Fe2O3 through two main causes:
8
K CO2/CO

7
6 Fe3O4 • A major boiler failure can cause physical da
5
4 mage to the HTS catalyst through the thermal
3 shock of relatively cold water hitting warmer
2 FeO catalyst and the impact of water droplets on the
1
0 Fe upper portion of the catalyst bed.
300 350 400 450 500 550 600 • A more gradual leak will cause deposition of
boiler solids on the catalyst surface as water
Temperature(°C)
evaporates. These solids normally contain silica
or phosphates and deposit on the top of the cata-
100 lyst bed. They block off catalyst pores and ac-
tive sites resulting in a loss of catalyst activity.
Fe3O4+H2 > 3FeO+H2O Such deposition can form a crust that substan-
10
tially increases the pressure drop and impacts on
K H2O/H2

1
FeO+H2>Fe+H2O the plant throughput and efficiency. Eventually
the pressure drop from the crust will be suffi-
0.1 cient for the hydraulic forces to crush catalyst
Fe3O4+4H2>3Fe+4H2O particles and the bed will quickly fail. The ef-
0.01 fect of a small undetected boiler leak on the HTS
300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700
pressure drop is illustrated in Figure 3.
Temperature (°C)

Figure 2. Thermodynamically Stable Iron Phases. 60

50 Start of bed
Over-reduced HTS catalyst also catalyses side reac-
Pressure Drop (psi)

crushing
tions such as Fischer-Tropsch and methanation reactions. 40
This results in increasing levels of hydrocarbons such as 30 Start of persistent
CH4, C2H6, etc and oxygenates. If over reduction is not boiler leak
20
identified and reversed, it can lead to weakened pellets
(due to the phase changes) and carbon laydown in the 10 Crust builds up
pellets. This structural damage is not reversible and will 0
on top of bed
lead to a step change in pressure drop across the bed fol- 0 10 20 30 40 50
lowed by a gradual increase in pressure drop. Time on Line (months)
Copper was added to HTS catalysts in order to in-
crease the resistance of HTS catalysts to over reduction. Figure 3. Effect of Boiler Leak on Pressure Drop
The first commercially available catalyst containing cop-
per was available from Johnson Matthey Catalysts in In order to minimize the damage to the catalyst by
1987 when KATALCO 71-3 was launched (reference 1). boiler leaks, Johnson Matthey Catalysts recommend the
installation of a protective layer on the top of the HTS
catalyst, either KATALCO 23-0 or DYPOR 607. Both
3.2 Boiler Leaks
of these products have a high surface area to trap silica
Many conventional ammonia plants that were and solid deposits, protecting the active catalyst beneath.
built in the late 1960s and 1970s have been substan- Case Study 1 (at the end of this paper) shows the ef-
tially revamped over the years so that current capacity fect of a boiler leak on the operation of a large ammonia
is far above the original design. These increases in plant operating with KATALCO 71-series catalyst.
plant rate have had a corresponding increase in the av-

2003 251 AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL

3.3 Exothermic Rehydration
of HTS Catalysts
A common phenomenon experienced during the
start up of HTS catalysts is that of excessive drying dur-
ing start-up and subsequent exothermic rehydration.
Under certain circumstances high temperature shift
catalysts can exhibit alarming exotherms during their
first start-up. In the past these exotherms have been
explained as being associated with reduction of hexava-
lent chrome (Cr6+) in the catalyst. After seeing an un-
usual exotherm with a catalyst containing very low lev-
els of hexavalent chrome, Johnson Matthey Catalysts
demonstrated that the exotherm was caused by rehydra-
tion of the surface of the catalyst with steam after a pe-
riod of excessive drying with warm nitrogen during an
interrupted start-up.
Plant operators should be aware of the possibility of
large exotherms in the HTS reactor if the catalyst has
been kept under warm dry nitrogen for many hours dur-
ing the start-up. These exotherms do not normally
cause any catalyst damage, but they can be worrying for
the plant personnel.
These exotherms occur independent of the type of
catalyst installed or the catalyst supplier. Figure 4 be-
low shows the effect of such an exotherm with a com-
petitive catalyst while Case Study 2 discusses the phe-
nomenon with Johnson Matthey catalyst installed.
450
400
Temperature (°C)
1st Steam
Introduced
350
300
250
0 20 40 60 80
Time, minutes
Figure 4. Exotherm on Steaming New HTS Catalyst.
Under normal circumstances the surface of fresh
HTS catalyst is covered with hydroxyl groups. After
long term exposure to nitrogen at temperatures seen
during the warming of the HTS reactor, the hydroxyl
groups are stripped away leaving very active Fe-O-Fe
groups on the surface of the catalyst. This surface read-
ily rehydrates when steam is introduced prior to intro-
duction of process gas, releasing heat. Only a small
portion of the steam reacts with the surface and most of
AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL
the steam carries heat further into the catalyst. This
means that the catalyst further in the bed is heated not
only by the rehydration of the surface but also by the
heat carried down from the hydrated catalyst above in
the reactor. This means the temperature can quickly
build through the reactor and the catalyst at the bottom
can see an overall temperature rise of 220 - 280°C (396
– 504°F). This phenomenon only affects fresh catalyst
i.e. when the catalyst is in its unreduced haematite
form. When the catalyst is activated with synthesis gas
it is reduced to magnetite, which has different surface
properties to the haematite in fresh catalyst.
3.3.1 Recommendations during
Catalyst Commissioning
Operators of HTS catalyst should be aware that if
fresh catalyst is exposed to warm dry nitrogen for many
hours the surface of the catalyst will be dehydrated and
subsequent rehydration can cause a spectacular exotherm.
Preliminary warming of HTS catalyst with nitrogen
can still be advantageous as it minimizes the amount of
wetting that would otherwise result if the catalyst is
warmed by condensing steam.
The start-up exotherm can be avoided by making
sure the catalyst is not excessively dried. If a start-up is
interrupted and there is a prospect of circulating warm
nitrogen over the HTS catalyst for a long time, the fol-
lowing should be considered:
Inlet
800
1. Add a small amount of steam to the nitrogen to
Top
prevent the drying.
Temperature (°F)
700 2. Temporarily discontinue the nitrogen circula-
Mid
tion.
Bot
600
3. Lower the HTS inlet temperature.
If a catalyst has been de-hydrated the size of the sub-
500
sequent exotherm can be minimized by using a high flow
100
to remove the heat generated. The flow can either be
steam alone or steam diluted with nitrogen. Alternatively
steam can be introduced intermittently in pulses with
time allowed between pulses for the exotherm to subside.
The catalyst supplier should be contacted for more
specific operational procedures.
3.4 Start-Up and Shut-Down
While some ammonia plants start up using nitrogen
as a heating medium for the front end of the plant up to
and including the HTS converter, other plants use
steam. This in itself is not detrimental to the HTS cata-
lyst provided that water condensed in the HTS vessel is
252 2003
drained away, and that dead legs and low points etc up-
stream of the converter are also drained.
Similarly during plant shut-downs, vessels should be
drained to remove any condensed steam. During the pe-
riod that the plant is shut down water ingress to the HTS
vessel is possible due to leaking valves if the vessel is not
physically isolated with slip plates. Therefore, vessels
should be routinely drained prior to plant start-up.

4 Low Temperature Shift Converters

Low Temperature Shift (LTS) converters are typi-
cally axial flow beds although as with the HTS con-
verter some plants have retrofitted with either axial-
radial or radial designs. The inlet temperature is nor-
mally controlled by a by-pass on the upstream heat ex-
changer. Quench systems are also retrofitted for tem-
perature control on plants where the heat exchanger exit
temperature is too high. For the low temperature shift
ideal operation is with the lowest possible inlet tem-
perature to give the lowest possible equilibrium CO
concentrations at the outlet of the reactor. The mini-
mum allowable operating temperature is therefore de- Figure 5. SEM Photographs of KATALCO 83-3 Be-
fined by the dew point of the inlet gas mixture. Plants fore and After Post Pellet Treatment.
normally operate with a margin of 10 – 15°C (18 –
27°F) above the dew point to prevent condensation on 20
the catalyst bed. The dew point is defined by the gas Typical KATALCO 83-3
composition, but for a typical ammonia plant the dew 15 Materials with Post Pellet
Treatment
point will be approximately 180°C (356°F) depending
on the plant pressure and steam ratio. 10

4.1 LTS Catalyst Wetting 5

4.1.1 Condensation
Condensation on LTS catalysts occurs during nor-
mal operation of the plant when the conditions at the
inlet of the LTS converter are too close to the dew
point. The main effect of condensing steam on LTS
catalysts is a reduction in catalyst strength. In order to
reduce the effect of condensation on catalyst strength,
KATALCO 83-3 series catalysts under go a post pellet
treatment step. As illustrated in Figure 5, new struc-
tures are formed in the catalyst pellets during this step,
increasing the catalyst strength. The difference in cata-
lyst strengths are shown in Figure 6. This additional
strength gives increased resistance against crushing of
the catalyst and a subsequent increase in pressure drop.
0
Fresh Freshly Reduced Fresh Freshly Reduced
reduced & steamed reduced & steamed
Figure 6. Effect of Post Pellet Treatment on Cata-
lyst Strength.
Condensing water on LTS catalysts can also have a
significant impact on the catalyst activity. Poisons such
as chlorides trapped at the top of the catalyst bed can be
washed down the catalyst bed, resulting in poisoning of
the remaining active catalyst beneath the previously
poisoned zone. All commercially available LTS cata-
lysts suffer from this phenomenon, including alkali
doped catalysts as the chloride species are water solu-
ble. Some commercially available guard bed materials
formulated to trap chlorides are also susceptible to this
problem. As an example, a European ammonia plant

2003 253 AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL

using a well known commercially available guard cata-
lyst experienced significant chloride poisoning through
the catalyst bed after a plant trip resulted in condensa-
tion on the catalyst bed.
4.1.2 Gross Wetting of Catalyst
Gross wetting can occur, for example of there is a
leak in an upstream heat exchanger (boiler or boiler feed
water heater) or if the water quench system is not operat-
ing correctly. As with condensation, gross wetting of a
LTS catalyst can have a significant effect on the catalyst
performance due to poisons being washed down the bed.
When gross wetting occurs, it is extremely important
that the catalyst is carefully dried out before it is brought
on line again. Water condenses in the catalyst pores and
if this is heated up rapidly, the water will undergo an ex-
plosive expansion to steam, shattering the pellets. It is
therefore extremely important to heat up the catalyst in a
slow and controlled manner in order to prevent catalyst
damage and a significant pressure drop increase.
4.2 LTS and Process Condensate
All modern low temperature shift catalysts form
methanol as a by-product since the synthesis of metha-
nol from carbon oxides and hydrogen is catalysed by
copper crystallites (the active component for the shift
reactions in low temperature shift catalysts). In many
plants this can cause problems in the treatment of proc-
ess condensate and in the CO2 removal section of the
plant. Other operators are facing increasing environ-
mental legislation. There is also an economic loss since
every tonne of methanol produced is equivalent to a
loss of approximately 1.1 tonnes of ammonia product
and for a large ammonia plant with conventional LTS
catalyst this can amount to as much as 5 tonnes/day.
This is equivalent to more than USD $250,000 in lost
profits in one year.
It is possible to manufacture a copper catalyst that
has a high activity for shift conversion without a high
activity for methanol synthesis. This has been achieved
with KATALCO 83-3X using carefully optimized al-
kali promoters.
In addition to catalyst formulation, by-product
methanol formation is minimized by low operating
temperatures. Operating as close to the dew point as
possible is therefore important in order to reduce by-
product methanol make, however this does have a
downside in that a small upset can lead to condensation
and hence damage to the bed.
AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL
5 Quench Systems
As most low temperature shift converters operate at
or close to equilibrium, reducing the inlet temperature
close to the dew point will reduce the CO slip. For ex-
ample, if the catalyst inlet temperature is lowered from
235°C (455°F) to nearer 190-200°C (374-392°F), then a
significant improvement in performance would be pos-
sible lowering the exit CO slip by more than 50% from
approximately 0.35% dry mol down to approximately
0.15% dry mol. This is worth between USD $800,000
and USD $1,500,000 in increased ammonia production
each year.
Table 1 shows the improvement in NH3 production
from reduction in CO slip. These values are based on a
1000 mtpd production rate on a standard Kellogg plant
with a hydrogen recovery unit installed. The percent
improvement would double if no hydrogen recovery
unit is installed in the process.
The value of the additional ammonia produced over
the life of the catalyst charge is more than USD
$4,000,000.
A method of reducing the inlet temperature is to in-
stall an upstream quench and this has been done to a
number of plants. The addition of quench water also in-
creases the steam content of the feed to the LTS and this
gives a more favourable equilibrium for the shift reactor.
Johnson Matthey Catalysts has designed and installed a
number of these systems, significantly improving the op-
eration of the low temperature shift converter.
6 Conclusions
This paper has illustrated how water can be a hero
and villain in both the high and low temperature shift
reactors on an ammonia plant
There are a number of common problems that water
can cause in the shift reactors that ammonia plant opera-
tors face; as demonstrated in this paper and these include,
• increased pressure drop or catalyst failure due
to boiler leaks
• hydrocarbon formation due to over-reduction
• exotherms during start-up due to excessive
drying
These problems can cost the operator significant
amount or production and hence value generation for
their stakeholders.
However, the shift reactors also offer an opportunity
for the operator to improve plant capacity and efficiency.
254 2003
 Table 1. Improvement in Ammonia Production versus Reduced CO Slippage for 1000 TPD Ammonia
Plant.
Mol. % CO Slippage Cumulative value
of additional NH3
At Current Inlet % Improvement product
At Optimized Temp (235°C) Mol. % Reduction of Ammonia No H2 recovery
Year Inlet Temp (455°F) in CO Slip Output USD ($)
0 0.14 0.34 0.20 2.02
1 0.14 0.34 0.20 2.01 800 000
2 0.14 0.34 0.20 1.98 1 600 000
3 0.15 0.34 0.19 1.90 2 360 000
4 0.16 0.34 0.18 1.79 3 080 000
5 0.17 0.34 0.16 1.64 3 720 000
6 0.20 0.34 0.14 1.42 4 280 000
7 0.23 0.34 0.11 1.07 4 720 000
8 0.30 0.34 0.04 0.38 4 880 000

6.1 Case Study 1
An example of an ammonia plant with a boiler fail-
ure is taken from a large ammonia plant that started up
in 1998 with Johnson Matthey catalysts throughout the
front end, including KATALCO 71 series in the HTS.
Soon after the plant began operation a routine set of
data was collected to allow the catalyst performance to
be characterized. At Johnson Matthey Catalysts the
first step in characterising catalyst operation is to estab-
lish a consistent material balance across the ammonia
plant. This is done using a Johnson Matthey data fitting
program known as CATPER, which is available to
Johnson Matthey catalyst customers via our website.
This program is used to adjust measured plant data until
a suitable overall match is obtained between the raw
plant measurements and the self-consistent calculated
material balance. For the data from the new plant there
was difficulty in matching the plant measurements as
the data from the shift section of the plant indicated that
the steam ratio was higher than expected. Adjusting the
steam ratio to match the data in the shift section led to
anomalies in the reformer section. It soon became clear
that a leak in the waste heat boiler would account for
the apparent mass and heat balance discontinuity.
Further monitoring of the HTS catalyst perform-
ance indicated a gradual but continual increase in the
pressure drop. This seemed to be consistent with a
boiler leak that was depositing boiler solids on the sur-
face of the catalyst.
When the catalyst pressure drop increased above
1.5 bar (22 psi) the plant operators shut-down the plant
to investigate the problem. As expected, a boiler leak
was found and repaired. The top of the catalyst bed
was found to be covered with a crust and there was evi-
dence of some broken and damaged catalyst. It was de-
cided to vacuum the damaged catalyst from the vessel
and to restart the plant with a partially filled reactor.
Pressure to quickly resume production precluded a full
catalyst change or even a top up of the residual charge.
Over 40% of the catalyst was discharged and the
space velocity increased from 5,400 hr-1 to 9,000 hr-1.
Despite this increase in space velocity the charge of
KATALCO 71-3 has continued to operate and to pro-
vide efficient CO conversion. The skimmed catalyst is
achieving almost complete conversion, as dictated by
the thermodynamic equilibrium, with a CO slip of
around 2.5%. After the skim the catalyst pressure drop
has returned to a more normal 0.7 bar (10 psi). The
current part charge is expected to stay in operation until
there is a convenient opportunity for a plant shut-down.
6.2 Case Study 2. Exotherm during
HTS Catalyst Commissioning
During the initial commissioning of a bed of
KATALCO 71-3 in a large American ammonia plant
the operator reported observing an exotherm of 250°C
(450°F). This temperature increase, from 260°C
(500°F) to 510°C (950°F), occurred very rapidly over
only a few minutes. The exotherm occurred when the
plant operator was introducing steam into the catalyst
and there was no process gas present. It was confirmed
that there was no synthesis gas in the steam and so any
explanations involving hexavalent chrome reduction or
other reduction reactions were ruled out as the root
cause of the observed exotherm. Furthermore, the
KATALCO 71-3 catalyst was confirmed to have only
trace levels of hexavalent chrome. Fortunately, subse-
quent operation showed that the activity and strength of
the catalyst were unaffected by the rapid exotherm.

2003 255 AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL

 Tests in our research facility were conducted to Appendix 2. Typical Operating Conditions Inlet
simulate the conditions in this plant, however, when LTS Converters.
steam was introduced into fresh catalyst at the condi- H2 59.92
tions seen in the plant no exotherm was observed. Fur- N2 20.95
ther investigation revealed that prior to the introduction CH4 0.55
of steam the HTS reactor had been held under nitrogen Ar 0.25
for 4 days at about 150-200°C (302-392°F). The re- CO 3.42
search tests were therefore repeated after the catalyst CO2 14.91
was dried in nitrogen and under these new conditions
an exotherm was observed. The magnitude of the exo- Steam to carbon ratio inlet reformer
therm matched well with that measured in the plant. Steam to dry gas ratio 0.345
Inlet pressure, barg (psig) 36.8 (534)
Appendix 1. Typical Operating Conditions Inlet Inlet temperature °C (°F) 198 (388)
HTS Converters.
H2 56.02
N2 22.99 7 References
CH4 0.60
1. Extending the Boundaries of HTS Catalyst Opera-
Ar 0.27
tion Ian Barton (251W/056/2/HTS)
CO 13.51
2. Introducing 71-5 - A New High Temperature Shift
CO2 6.61
Catalyst Ian Barton, 1997 (386W/097/1/HTS)
3. The Impact of Operational Problems on High Tem-
Steam to carbon ratio inlet reformer
perature Shift Catalyst Performance I Barton, 1999
Steam to dry gas ratio 0.476
First presented Nitrogen 1999, Caracus (608W/
Inlet pressure, barg (psig) 37.8 (548)
029/0/AMM)
Inlet temperature °C (°F) 350 (662)
4. Unusual Exotherms During Start-up of Fresh High
Temperature Shift Catalyst I Barton First Published
in FINDS, Stokes Engineering Company
5. Operational Experience with KATALCO 83-series
Catalysts FE Lynch, 2002

AMMONIA TECHNICAL MANUAL 256 2003