Natural gas based hydrogen production with zero carbon dioxide emissions

A novel process flowsheet is presented that co-produces hydrogen and formic acid from natural gas, without emitting any carbon dioxide. The principal technologies employed in the process network include combustion, steam methane reforming (SMR), pressure swing adsorption, and formic acid production from CO2 and H2. Thermodynamic analysis provides operating limits for the proposed process, and the use of reaction clusters leads to the synthesis of a feasible process flowsheet. Heat and power integration studies show this flowsheet to be energetically self-sufficient through the use of heat engine and heat pump subnetworks. Operating cost/revenue studies, using current market prices for natural gas, hydrogen and formic acid, identify the proposed design’s operating revenue to cost ratio to be 9.29.