Blueish hydrogen production via methane pyrolysis and remote CO2 capture and storage

Methane pyrolysis is an attractive technology for the production of low-emission H2, whose competitivity is largely connected to the market value of the produced carbon. This study presents a novel process for low-carbon hydrogen production via methane pyrolysis and remote carbon oxycombustion with CO2 capture and storage (MPCCS). The baseline scenario assessed in this work focuses on distributed hydrogen generation in small-scale 30 MWLHV (⁓10,000 Nm3/h) plants based on methane pyrolysis technology, where the produced solid carbon is transported by truck and thermally valorized through oxycombustion in a centralized plant located close to a CO2 transport and storage infrastructure. In the assessed MPCCS process, hydrogen is produced with a cold gas efficiency (CGE) of 57.7 % and with a carbon recovery of 95.6 %. A centralized regeneration plant serving ten hydrogen plants produces a thermal power of 223 MWth for an industrial user. The economic analysis shows that for the considered sizes, assuming a natural gas price of 6 €/GJ and carbon transport by truck over a distance of 200 km, the MPCCS plants achieve a levelized cost of hydrogen of 3.1 €/kg, with specific direct emissions below 1 kgCO2/kgH2.