High temperature production of hydrogen: Assessment of non-renewable resources technologies and emerging trends

Abstract

Recent increase in the use of hydrogen in sectors like energy, chemicals production, transportation and manufacturing industries have necessitated more efforts in experimental research, technological development and political interests across the globe. These efforts are geared towards finding alternatives to producing sustainable clean hydrogen from the abundant renewable resources and especially non-renewable resources available around the world. The largest demands for hydrogen are from petroleum refining, petrochemical industries, fertilizer production, the steel industries and recently the mobility industry; whereas all continues to contribute to the further growth of hydrogen production and utilization worldwide. The steam reforming of natural gas and gasification of coal have been the most dominant technologies for producing large volumes of hydrogen. This paper is a continuation of Part 1, which focus on high temperature process technologies for producing hydrogen via renewable resources. The focuses of this paper (Part 2) are to assess and discuss various industrial technologies and processes (700 °C and above) for the beneficiation of the available carbonaceous feedstocks (non-renewable resources) like natural gas, other hydrocarbons (other fossil based options), coal etc. This paper concludes with the analysis of some development gaps in hydrogen production from renewable and non-renewable resources and the likely future trends that should be expected in the hydrogen economy in the next decades.