---
title: "Reformer furnace"
description: "A reformer furnace — almost always a steam methane reformer (SMR) in modern refineries and ammonia plants — produces hydrogen by reacting natural gas with steam at ~850 °C over a nickel catalyst inside vertical tubes. The radiant box delivers the reaction heat from burner walls; flue gas leaves to a convection section recovering remaining heat into process steam and feed preheat."
canonical_url: "https://sylio.co/glossary/reformer-furnace"
last_updated: "2026-06-28T02:29:40.696Z"
---

A **reformer furnace** — almost always a **steam methane reformer (SMR)** in modern refineries and ammonia plants — produces hydrogen by reacting natural gas with steam at ~850 °C over a nickel catalyst inside vertical tubes. The radiant box delivers the reaction heat from burner walls; flue gas leaves to a convection section recovering remaining heat into process steam and feed preheat.

## Fouling in the convection bank

The SMR convection bank is particularly fouling-prone because:

- High-temperature flue-gas surfaces sit above the [ammonium bisulphate](/glossary/ammonium-bisulphate) dew point but cool sufficiently below it on the cold-end
- SO₃ from any sulphur leaving the desulphurisers reacts with ammonia slip from upstream SCR (if installed) to form ABS
- Deposits consolidate on finned-tube banks reducing heat recovery

## Cleaning

[Sonic horns](/glossary/sonic-horn) on the SMR convection-bank cold end keep ABS deposits from consolidating. Hydrogen-plant reliability is critical to refinery operation (any unit upstream that needs hydrogen will derate without it), so the value of avoided outages is high.

## Related terms

- [Economiser](/glossary/economiser)
- [Ammonium bisulphate](/glossary/ammonium-bisulphate)
- [Sonic horn](/glossary/sonic-horn)