MONITORING OF TEMPERATURE IN A STEAM REFORMING FURNACE BY CONTROLLING THE INCOMING THERMAL POWER

摘要

The invention relates to a process for producing synthetic gas in a steam methane reforming furnace by causing a mixture of methane (natural gas) and steam to flow in tubes filled with catalysts arranged vertically in the reforming furnace so as to produce, at the outlet of the tubes, a mixture containing mostly hydrogen and carbon monoxide, a so-called "synthetic gas." The tubes are heated via burners using a mixture of natural gas and residual gas as fuel. Said residual gas comes from one or more source processes and has compositional variations in relation to the operation of at least one source process. According to the invention, the thermal power entering the furnace for a given production rate is kept stable by real-time adjustment of the flow of the combustive natural gas and the combustive air flow in order to compensate the variations in the thermal power coming from the residual gas used as fuel. Said variations in the thermal power of the residual gas result from said compositional variations in relation to the operation of at least one source process.