Novel approach for low CO 2 intensity hydrogen production from natural gas

• Published in: Sustainable energy & fuels Vol. 6; no. 21; pp. 4948 - 4961
• Main Authors: Straus, Julian, Skjervold, Vidar Torarin, Anantharaman, Rahul, Berstad, David
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 25.10.2022
• ISSN: 2398-4902; 2398-4902
• DOI: 10.1039/D2SE00862A

Hydrogen from natural gas with CO 2 capture can be a key transition technology to a low carbon energy system due to the abundance of natural gas and the possibility to increase the hydrogen production capacity quickly. However, it is necessary to achieve both a high energy efficiency and a high CO 2 capture ratio for it to be a viable option. The liquefaction of CO 2 is one promising separation technology as it provides the captured CO 2 in a transportable format. This paper proposes a hydrogen production process with integrated CO 2 liquefaction. Efficiencies of up to 84.7% (based on the higher heating value) and CO 2 capture ratios of up to 97.2% can be achieved. One advantage of the utilization of CO 2 liquefaction as separation technology is furthermore the possibility to incorporate a partial recycle of the flue gas from the separation to the water–gas shift reaction without additional equipment, increasing both energy efficiency and carbon capture ratio.