Analysis and discussion of the perspectives related to the application of tri-reforming to gas turbine-based powerplants for the reduction of CO2 emissions

A recently proposed process for natural gas reforming, called tri – reforming, seems to have interesting chances for succeding when applied to powerplants as a measure for containing CO2 emissions. The exhausts of fossil fuelled powerplants are mixtures of N2, CO2, H2O and O2, where CO2 appears in very low concentrations, especially in gas turbine cycles (5 – 7% volume). Thus, its capture is an highly energy demanding operation. The possibility of using the exhausts directly for converting a fraction or the whole of combustion produced CO2 to a fuel (syngas) with a relatively high hydrogen content to replace a fraction of primsary natural gas (or either any other fossil fuel) was investigated. The use of high temperature gas turbine exhausts for the endothermic tri – reforming reactions represents an interesting option to partially satisfy the rather high energy demand of the process. On the other hand, given the typically high excess air, the exhausts are largely diluted in nitrogen, which is a drawback for the effectiveness of conversion reactions. The possibility of applying tri – reforming directly to the primary fuel decarbonisation was investigated and compared to previously proposed solutions with standard air reforming, such as auto thermal reforming.