Paper

Improving Down-fired Steam

Methane Reforming Flue Gas

Flow Uniformity Using the New

StaBloxTM Reformer Tunnel

System

TANNER HOWELL

BD ENERGY SYSTEMS

Houston, Texas, U.S.A

JOE QUINTILIANI

BLASCH PRECISION CERAMICS

Albany, New York, U.S.A

For decades, down-fired steam methane reformer furnaces have utilized flue gas tunnels

(aka “coffins”) along the radiant section floor to collect and improve flue gas flow uniformity.

These tunnels range from 4 to 10 feet high, 2 to 3 feet wide, and 40 to 100 feet long, depending

on the unit design capacity. However, the conventional refractory firebrick or tongue-andgroove firebrick construction has always constrained the flue gas to non-uniform flow which has

been correlated to non-uniform catalyst-tube temperatures and accelerated tube aging. Due to

tunnel size and refractory volume, traditional brick design uses only basic shapes. Typical brick

and mortar installations require several physical features which severely limit tunnel

effectiveness, making uniform flue gas flow unachievable. The ability to design and construct

tunnels using new highly-engineered refractory shapes is new to this industry and could be the

answer to improving flue gas tunnel effectiveness and improving catalyst tube reliability and

longevity.

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BD Energy Systems and Blasch Precision Ceramics have co-developed an improved

reformer tunnel system to achieve near-perfect flue gas flow uniformity among and along the

tunnels. This system combines BD Energy’s vast steam methane reforming experience and

Blasch’s customized-precision-refractory-shapes design and manufacturing expertise. The

result is unparalleled flue gas flow control using the Blasch StaBloxTM reformer tunnel system.

Because of this new ability to fine-tune flue gas flow, these tunnels can be adapted to other

applications and can open the door to previously unexplored SMR process possibilities. This

paper compares conventional tunnel construction and...