Hydrogen production with CO₂ capture

In view of the abundance of fossil fuels, hydrogen production with CO₂ capture could be a key transition technology for moving in the direction of a sustainable hydrogen-using society. An overview of technologies for hydrogen production from fossil fuels with CO₂ capture is provided in this paper: reforming or gasification with subsequent gas separation by adsorption, absorption, membranes or cryogenic/low-temperature separation; process routes with integrated syngas production and gas separation by water–gas shift membrane reactors, reformer membrane reactors, sorption-enhanced water–gas shift and sorption-enhanced reforming; and processes utilizing the concept of chemical looping. Furthermore, purity requirements for the produced CO₂ and hydrogen are reviewed. Few technologies exist that can produce both high-purity hydrogen and CO₂ at transport quality simultaneously, and the few possible approaches are maximum on the pilot stage. Producing hydrogen from fossil fuels, while capturing the CO₂ for transport and storage is therefore a matter of matching hydrogen and CO₂ separation technologies in a best possible manner, taking into account the planned transport option for the CO₂ and the way in which the hydrogen will be used. Hydrogen production with CO₂ capture can potentially lead to large CO₂ emission reductions in eg. transport sector.