Life Cycle Assessment of the Process Steam Reforming of Methane(SMR)

Abstract

Life cycle assessment is a process to determine the environmental impact of the product at various stages of its life during the process. The steam reforming of methane is carried out in a methane reformer using ASPEN PLUS simulator at 630 ºC temperature and 1.5 atm pressure. Methane at these conditions reacts with steam to produce Carbon dioxide (CO2), Carbon monoxide (CO) and Hydrogen (H2). The tress amount of Carbon monoxide is also converted to Carbon dioxide in two steps; High temperature shift conversion (HTS) and Low temperature shift conversion (LTS). Methyl diethanolamine (MDEA) is utilized to retain carbon dioxide from the final stream. Life cycle assessment is then carried out to find the effect of Carbon dioxide gas in air emission, Greenhouse effect, Energy consumption and Waste water emission at different stages of the process. The outcome demonstrates the increment in weight (%) of CO2.