Fuels – Hydrogen – Hydrogen Production | Fossil Fuels Based

Abstract

Hydrogen emerges as a technology for achieving carbon neutrality. The challenges of hydrogen implementation lie in its production technology with minimizing carbon dioxide emission and economic feasibility. There are several established technologies for producing hydrogen from fossil sources. Although conventional methods, including steam reforming of natural gas, are considered as economical, most of them are not environmentally friendly with a high global warming potential value. New technologies such as multifunctional reactors are developed to enable a low-carbon production. For example, the sorption-enhanced steam reforming incorporates CO2 capture into gasifier or reforming reactors. The process shows many advantages including lower energy consumption, higher hydrogen purity and yield, lower carbon emission, fewer operational unit, and lower capital and operational costs, as compared to the current method without a sorption unit. At present, such technology is at a technology readiness level (TRL) of 4, indicating its promising potential in the industrial context. Also, a multifunctional reactor can be designed with a membrane unit to provide an in situ product separation, allowing the operation at milder condition. A key challenge of designing these technologies is to reduce GHG emission while maintaining economic feasibility of the overall production. It is also essential for policy makers to facilitate the implementation of new hydrogen production technologies and promote the replacement of fossil fuels with hydrogen.