Techno-economic comparison of reverse water gas shift reaction to steam and dry methane reforming reactions for syngas production

Abstract

Abstract This work evaluates the economics of syngas production processes by the reverse water gas shift (rWGS) reaction against the dry methane reforming (DMR) reaction and its combination with the steam methane reforming reaction (SMR-DMR). The DMR and SMR-DMR processes show lower total annual costs comparing to the rWGS process for the production of syngas with H2/CO ratio of 1 and 2, respectively. Breakeven analysis has been performed on the price of H2, natural gas, and CO2 tax rate. At a H2 price of $1/kg, the rWGS process is comparable to the DMR process when natural gas price and CO2 tax rate are $0.53/m3 (STP) and $44/1000\u2009kg, respectively. For the rWGS process to be as economical as the SMR-DMR process, natural gas prices in the range of $0.35–0.53/m3 (STP) and CO2 tax rates up to $60/1000\u2009kg are needed while keeping the H2 price below $2/kg.