For over half a century, round furnace steam reformers combined with pressure swing adsorption (PSA) purification have been the proven technology for hydrogen production up to 22 MMscfd, with over thousands of plants constructed worldwide by a number of firms.  Benefiting from almost complete shop-based fabrication, and modular assembly at the jobsite, round reformers offer low capital cost, short project schedule and the ability to carefully control quality of materials and workmanship.

As larger and larger hydrogen plants were required for world-scale refineries, the focus of large engineering firms moved to box reformer technology in the 1980’s, leaving ever-fewer suppliers of round reformers worldwide.  Howe-Baker are proud to be the only Western Hemisphere firm to remain focused on the supply of hydrogen equipment for small/medium sized projects in both heavy industry and for clean fuels applications. We are focused on incorporating best in class technology in catalysts, materials and burners to develop a line of round reformer plants that offers advantages in emissions, efficiency, and durability compared to heritage plants.

Howe Baker combines innovative technologies in our proven round reformer platform to offer a uniquely modern and high-performance flowsheet with low complexity and high reliability.  Our revamp capabilities gives us extensive insight into operational challenges of design features of all the heritage plant suppliers, and allows us to strategically substitute new materials and technologies while incorporating the best features proven in plants .

The high performance of Howe Baker’s PSA plants further reduces the energy consumption and installed cost  of the reformer plant itself, with options to focus on improving efficiency or reducing capital cost of the completed plant. As a companion to our methanol process, or for other applications that require synthesis gas, Howe Baker can also provide customized round reformer plants specifically-tailored to synthesis gas production.