Thermodynamic analysis of conversion of alternative hydrocarbon-based feedstocks to hydrogen

Due to the declining fossil fuel stocks and a consistent problem of the carbon dioxide emissions, new energy sources are needed in future. Among the many alternatives, hydrogen has been identified as one of the most ideal energy carriers to sustainable energy development. Nowadays, in industry, natural gas is the preferred feedstock for hydrogen production. However, it is expected that the process gas streams released in industry could be potential feedstocks as well. In addition, production of hydrogen from biomass based materials has gained tremendous worldwide interest during the last decades, because biomass is considered to be a carbon dioxide neutral substance. In this paper, the feasibility of hydrogen production using alternative feedstocks, such as coke oven gas, refinery gas and biogas was evaluated by Aspen Plus® and HSC Chemistry® software. Specific energy consumption and specific CO2 emissions were used as the indicators for the production performance. The natural gas based processes were used as references. The simulation results demonstrated that hydrogen can be produced energy efficiently and in an environmentally benign way by using alternative feedstocks. Coke oven gas appeared to have the lowest energy consumption for all the investigated alternatives. Moreover, in terms of CO2 emissions, coke oven gas was superior to other options.