Natural gas usage as a heat source for integrated SMR and thermochemical hydrogen production technologies

• Published in: International journal of hydrogen energy Vol. 35; no. 16; pp. 8569 - 8579
• Main Authors: Jaber, O., Naterer, G.F., Dincer, I.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 01-08-2010; Elsevier
• Subjects: Alternative fuels. Production and utilization; Applied sciences; Carbon dioxide; Copper; Cost analysis; Emission analysis; Energy; Exact sciences and technology; Fuels; Hydrogen; Hydrogen production; Moles; Natural gas; Steam methane reforming; Sustainability; S–I cycle; Thermochemical Cu–Cl cycle; S–I cycle; Thermochemical Cu–Cl cycle; Sustainability; Hydrogen production; Steam methane reforming; Methane; Sensitivity analysis; Chlorine; Hydrogen; Carbon dioxide; S-I cycle; Thermochemical Cu-Cl cycle; Heat source; Thermochemical cycle; Production cost; Steam reforming; Cost analysis; Copper; Sulfur; Comparative study; Natural gas; Iodine
• ISSN: 0360-3199; 1879-3487
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2010.05.116

This paper investigates various usages of natural gas (NG) as an energy source for different hydrogen production technologies. A comparison is made between the different methods of hydrogen production, based on the total amount of natural gas needed to produce a specific quantity of hydrogen, carbon dioxide emissions per mole of hydrogen produced, water requirements per mole of hydrogen produced, and a cost sensitivity analysis that takes into account the fuel cost, carbon dioxide capture cost and a carbon tax. The methods examined are the copper–chlorine (Cu–Cl) thermochemical cycle, steam methane reforming (SMR) and a modified sulfur–iodine (S–I) thermochemical cycle. Also, an integrated Cu–Cl/SMR plant is examined to show the unique advantages of modifying existing SMR plants with new hydrogen production technology. The analysis shows that the thermochemical Cu–Cl cycle out-performs the other conventional methods with respect to fuel requirements, carbon dioxide emissions and total cost of production.