Evaluation of the economic impact of hydrogen production by methane decomposition with steam reforming of methane process

There has been considerable interest in the development of more efficient processes to generate hydrogen. Currently, steam methane reforming (SMR) is the most widely applied route for producing hydrogen from natural gas. Researchers worldwide have been working to invent more efficient routes to produce hydrogen. One of the routes is thermocatalytic decomposition of methane (TCDM) - a process that decomposes methane thermally to produce hydrogen from natural gas. TCDM has not yet been commercialized. However, the aim of this work was to conduct an economic and environmental analysis to determine whether the TCDM process is competitive with the more popular SMR process. The results indicate that the TCDM process has a lower carbon footprint. Further research on TCDM catalysts could make this process economically competitive with steam methane reforming.