Parametric Study for Thermal and Catalytic Methane Pyrolysis for Hydrogen Production: Techno-Economic and Scenario Analysis

As many countries have tried to construct a hydrogen (H-2) society to escape the conventional energy paradigm by using fossil fuels, methane pyrolysis (MP) has received a lot of attention owing to its ability to produce H-2 with no CO2 emission. In this study, a techno-economic analysis including a process simulation, itemized cost estimation, and sensitivity and scenario analysis was conducted for the system of thermal-based and catalyst-based MP (TMP-S1 and CMP-S2), and the system with the additional H-2 production processes of carbon (C) gasification and water-gas shift (WGS) reaction (TMPG-S3 and CMPG-S4). Based on the technical performance expressed by H-2 and C production rate, the ratio of H-2 combusted to supply the heat required and the ratio of reactants for the gasifier (C, Air, and water (H2O)), unit H-2 production costs of USD 2.14, 3.66, 3.53, and 3.82 kgH(2)(-1) from TMP-S1, CMP-S2, TMPG-S3, and CMPG-S4, respectively, were obtained at 40% H-2 combusted and a reactants ratio for C-Air-H2O of 1:1:2. Moreover, trends of unit H-2 production cost were obtained and key economic parameters of the MP reactor, reactant, and C selling price were represented by sensitivity analysis. In particular, economic competitiveness compared with commercialized H-2 production methods was reported in the scenario analysis for the H-2 production scale and C selling price.

Automated summary

This study conducted a techno-economic analysis on thermal-based and catalyst-based methane pyrolysis systems, comparing their unit H-2 production costs. Results showed that the thermal-based system had the lowest cost. Sensitivity analysis revealed the impact of MP reactor, reactant, and C selling price on production costs.