Reformer furnace

A reformer furnace is the fired heater at the centre of a steam methane reforming unit. It produces hydrogen-rich syngas by reacting natural gas or another light hydrocarbon with steam over nickel catalyst inside externally heated reformer tubes.

The radiant box contains vertical catalyst-filled tubes exposed to burners. Hydrocarbon feed and steam pass through the tubes at high temperature. Downstream shift reactors and purification systems convert and separate the hydrogen depending on the plant design. Reformer furnaces are used in hydrogen plants, ammonia plants, methanol plants, refineries, and some direct-reduction iron routes.

Heat recovery and fouling

After the radiant box, hot flue gas passes through a convection section with coils for feed preheat, steam generation, boiler feedwater heating, and combustion air or process heating. This section is where fouling most often matters for acoustic cleaning. Deposits can form from burner ash, refractory dust, corrosion products, ammonium salts, or process-side leaks that affect flue-gas chemistry.

Ammonium bisulphate is a concern where ammonia, sulphur oxides, and the right temperature window coincide. It can form sticky deposits that trap dust, raise pressure drop, and reduce heat transfer. Fouling in the convection section can increase stack temperature, reduce steam production, and disturb furnace draft.

Failure and safety context

Reformer operation is safety-critical because it combines high temperature, high pressure, fuel gas, hydrogen, and catalyst tubes that can fail by creep, overheating, carburisation, or hot spots. Tube skin temperature monitoring, burner tuning, draft control, flue-gas oxygen, and trip logic are central safeguards.

Cleaning work must respect fired-heater access controls. Deposits that are dry and loose may be managed online, but sticky ammonium salts, refractory failures, and tube leaks require process diagnosis rather than more cleaning energy.

Acoustic cleaning context

Sonic horns may be used in convection sections, waste-heat boilers, or downstream heat-recovery equipment where dry deposits reduce heat transfer or increase pressure drop. They do not act on the catalyst inside reformer tubes and they do not correct burner maldistribution. Their useful role is deposit prevention in the flue-gas path after combustion conditions and materials compatibility are understood.

Operating and inspection context

A reformer furnace is monitored through tube metal temperature, bridgewall temperature, stack oxygen, burner balance, draft, flue-gas temperature, pressure drop, and hydrogen or syngas production targets. The tubes carry catalyst-filled process gas, so flame impingement, poor heat distribution, or coke formation can shorten tube life quickly. Burner tuning and convection-section cleanliness are therefore part of mechanical integrity, not only fuel economy.

Failure modes include burner tile damage, flame impingement, catalyst tube creep, tube hot bands, convection-bank fouling, refractory damage, air leakage, and stack damper problems. Dust loading is usually lower than in solid-fuel boilers, but deposits can still form in convection sections or on waste-heat recovery surfaces. Acoustic cleaning may be relevant only where dry deposits accumulate in the flue-gas path; it has no role inside process tubes or catalyst beds. Safety reviews also consider fuel-gas isolation, explosion risk, and hot-surface access during inspection.

Cleaning reviews should keep the fired side and process side separate. Acoustic cleaning may support the flue-gas convection section if dry deposits reduce heat recovery, but catalyst activity, tube coking, steam-to-carbon ratio, and process pressure drop are separate reforming problems that require process or catalyst action.

Related terms

• Economiser
• Ammonium bisulphate
• Hydrogen plant
• Sonic horn