CO2 valorization through direct methanation of flue gas and renewable hydrogen: A technical and economic assessment

Under the scenario of an increasing sharing of renewable energy, Power to Gas technology may offer an effective and valuable solution for surplus energy management, accounting for a large and long-term chemical storage. In the present study an innovative Power to Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG) process has been described and investigated from a techno-economic and environmental point of view. The configuration is based on a methanation process, directly applied on flue gas stream thus acting both as a CO₂ capture and sequestration technology and as renewable energy storage mechanism. Reacting hydrogen is produced via water electrolysis powered by surplus of renewable energy, normally low-priced otherwise wasted. With a reference capacity factor around 4000 h/y, the resulting SNG cost is 0.34 €/Nm³ based on a carbon tax equal to 30 €/t CO₂. The obtained results are attractive and consistent with the fact that future investment cost for water electrolysis is decreasing accordingly.     

Power-to-SNG technologies by hydrogenation of CO2 and biomass resources: A comparative chemical engineering process analysis

Power to Synthetic-Natural-Gas (SNG) technology consists of two main steps: water electrolysis and methanation; the primary energy input is usually surplus power from renewable energy sources, while the electrolytic hydrogen and carbon oxides from different CO_x sources are converted into methane that can be fed in the natural gas grid. We focus on methanation technology, where the main criteria are the complexity of process setup and reactor sizes to achieve production and SNG quality for gas-grid injection. The processes are simulated using a plug-flow model for the reactors and a pseudo-homogeneous kinetic law describing the reaction of CO₂ (that is rate limiting). The results show that feeding biogas or syngas (instead of CO₂) for methanation has remarkable effects regarding the operation and design of the processes; it is concluded that Power-to-SNG technologies that use methane rich streams are favorable in terms of biogas upgrading, H₂ requirements, reactor volumes and process simplicity, as far as these resources are available: e.g., using a typical composition (60% CH₄) the required inputs are 0.96 kmol of biogas, 1.54 kmol of H₂ and 0.26 m³ of reactors (two adiabatic beds with recirculation, R/F = 0.695) per kmol/min of pipeline quality dry gas product (95% CH₄), which means 60% hydrogen saving, less than 26% reaction volumes and near 62% reduction of process throughput, when compared to the methanation process that uses pure CO₂; conversion of syngas can be also favorable, but it requires high recirculation due to the large proportions of CO_x; e.g. for syngas (47.3%H₂-25.9%CO-17.2%CO₂-9.6%CH₄), the required values mean a 53% hydrogen saving and less than 25% reaction volumes, but only 11% reduction of process throughput.     

Techno-economic analysis of adiabatic four-stage CO2 methanation process for optimization and evaluation of power-to-gas technology

Owing to increasing demands for clean energy, caused by global warming, renewable energy sources have attracted significant attention. However, these sources can affect the reliability of electrical grids owing to their intermittency. Power-to-gas technology is expected to help address this issue. In this study, the CO₂ methanation process, which yields synthetic natural gas (SNG) via the synthesis of CO₂ and H₂ through proton exchange membrane (PEM) water electrolysis using surplus electricity generated from renewable energy, was evaluated and optimized based on techno-economic analyses. Requirements for the introduction of SNG produced through CO₂ methanation in domestic natural gas markets are presented by considering various scenarios. Results indicate that, even if the electricity costs, including system marginal price and renewable energy costs, are minimal, the costs for PEM water electrolysis and CO₂ methanation must be reduced by ~$550/kW and 25%, respectively, relative to current levels for the viable introduction of SNG in domestic markets.     

Commercial process for mass production of synthetic natural gas through the adiabatic reactors: operational characteristics of a 50‐kW pilot‐plant,influence of steam,and CO2

In synthetic natural gas (SNG) reaction process, the water gas shift (WGS) reaction and methanation reaction take place simultaneously, and an insufficient supply of steam might deactivate the catalyst. In this study, the characteristics of the methanation reaction with a commercial catalyst and using a low [H₂]/[CO] mole ratio in SNG synthesis are evaluated. The reaction characteristics at various possible process parameters are evaluated varying different process parameters such as the [H₂O]/[CO] mole ratio, [H₂]/[CO] mole ratio, flow of different % CO₂, and reaction temperature. Temperature profiles on catalyst bed are monitored as a function of the [H₂O]/[CO] mole ratio, [H₂]/[CO] mole ratio, and flow of different % CO₂. Through a lab‐scale optimization process, suitable optimum conditions are selected and in the same condition a 50‐kW pilot‐scale SNG production process through adiabatic reactors is carried out. The pilot scale SNG reaction is stable through overnight and the CO conversion efficiency and CH₄ selectivity are 100% and 97.3%, respectively, while the maximum CH₄ productivity is 0.654 m³/kg_cat · h. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hydrogen production from wind energy in Western Canada for upgrading bitumen from oil sands

Hydrogen is produced via steam methane reforming (SMR) for bitumen upgrading which results in significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Wind energy based hydrogen can reduce the GHG footprint of the bitumen upgrading industry. This paper is aimed at developing a detailed data-intensive techno-economic model for assessment of hydrogen production from wind energy via the electrolysis of water. The proposed wind/hydrogen plant is based on an expansion of an existing wind farm with unit wind turbine size of 1.8 MW and with a dual functionality of hydrogen production and electricity generation. An electrolyser size of 240 kW (50 Nm³ H₂/h) and 360 kW (90 Nm³ H₂/h) proved to be the optimal sizes for constant and variable flow rate electrolysers, respectively. The electrolyser sizes aforementioned yielded a minimum hydrogen production price at base case conditions of $10.15/kg H₂ and $7.55/kg H₂. The inclusion of a Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) of $0.13/kWh renders the production price of hydrogen equal to SMR i.e. $0.96/kg H_2, with an internal rate of return (IRR) of 24%. The minimum hydrogen delivery cost was $4.96/kg H₂ at base case conditions. The life cycle CO₂ emissions is 6.35 kg CO₂/kg H₂ including hydrogen delivery to the upgrader via compressed gas trucks.     

The production of synthetic natural gas (SNG): A comparison of three wood gasification systems for energy balance and overall efficiency

The production of Synthetic Natural Gas from biomass (Bio-SNG) by gasification and upgrading of the gas is an attractive option to reduce CO₂ emissions and replace declining fossil natural gas reserves. Production of energy from biomass is approximately CO₂ neutral. Production of Bio-SNG can even be CO₂ negative, since in the final upgrading step, part of the biomass carbon is removed as CO₂, which can be stored. The use of biomass for CO₂ reduction will increase the biomass demand and therefore will increase the price of biomass. Consequently, a high overall efficiency is a prerequisite for any biomass conversion process. Various biomass gasification technologies are suitable to produce SNG. The present article contains an analysis of the Bio-SNG process efficiency that can be obtained using three different gasification technologies and associated gas cleaning and methanation equipment. These technologies are: 1) Entrained Flow, 2) Circulating Fluidized Bed and 3) Allothermal or Indirect gasification. The aim of this work is to identify the gasification route with the highest process efficiency from biomass to SNG and to quantify the differences in overall efficiency. Aspen Plus^® was used as modeling tool. The heat and mass balances are based on experimental data from literature and our own experience.Overall efficiency to SNG is highest for Allothermal gasification. The net overall efficiencies on LHV basis, including electricity consumption and pre-treatment but excluding transport of biomass are 54% for Entrained Flow, 58% for CFB and 67% for Allothermal gasification. Because of the significantly higher efficiency to SNG for the route via Allothermal gasification, ECN is working on the further development of Allothermal gasification. ECN has built and tested a 30 kW_th lab scale gasifier connected to a gas cleaning test rig and methanation unit and presently is building a 0.8 MWth pilot plant, called Milena, which will be connected to the existing pilot scale gas cleaning.     

An evaluation of hydrogen production from the perspective of using blast furnace gas and coke oven gas as feedstocks

Blast furnace (BF) is a large-scale reactor for producing hot metal where coke and coal are consumed as reducing agent and fuel, respectively. As a result, a large amount of CO₂ is liberated into the atmosphere. The blast furnace gas (BFG) and coke oven gas (COG) from the ironmaking process can be used for H₂ production in association with carbon capture and storage (CCS), thereby reducing CO₂ emissions. In this study thermodynamic analyses are performed to evaluate the feasibility of H₂ production from BFG and COG. Through the water gas shift reaction (WGSR) of BFG, almost all CO contained in BFG can be converted for H₂ production if the steam/CO (S/C) ratio is no less than unity and the temperature is at 200 °C, regardless of whether CO₂ is captured or not. The maximum H₂ production from WGSR is around 0.21 Nm³ (Nm³ BFG)⁻¹. Regarding H₂ production from COG, a two-stage reaction of partial oxidation (POX) followed by WGSR is carried out. It is found the proper conditions for syngas formation from the POX of COG is at the oxygen/fuel (O/F) ratio of 0.5 and the temperature range of 1000-1750 °C where the maximum syngas yield is 2.83 mol (mol hydrocarbons)⁻¹. When WGSR is subsequently applied, the maximum H₂ production from the two-stage reaction can reach 0.83 Nm³ (Nm³ COG)⁻¹.     

The integration of hybrid hydrogen networks for refinery and synthetic plant of chemicals

Hydrogen is the core source to both refinery and synthetic plant of chemicals. Refinery consumes high purity hydrogen while synthetic plant of chemicals needs syngas consists of hydrogen and carbon oxides. As main hydrogen production technologies, industrial coal gasification and steam methane reforming based pathways generate H₂, CO and CO₂, which is actually the mixture of hydrogen and carbon oxides. Hence, the gases demand of refinery and synthetic plant of chemicals and their supply from hydrogen production can form hybrid hydrogen networks. On the basis of complementary reuse, this paper firstly proposes integration of hybrid hydrogen network for refinery and synthetic plant of chemicals. Superstructures of individual and hybrid hydrogen networks are employed as problem illustration and corresponding linear programming (LP) mathematical models are formulated. Practical refinery and synthetic plant of chemicals cases are employed to demonstrate its application. Compared with individual networks, the natural gas conservation case can recover 8660.4 Nm³·h^-1 hydrogen in purge gas, reduce 1386.6 Nm³·h^-1 CO₂ emission, equaling to reduction of 278.11 kmol·h^-1 natural gas feedstock and 14.8% of total gas production load; the coal conservation case can even waive the total coal consumption and extra 104.1 kmol·h^-1 natural gas, recover 8660.4 Nm³·h^-1 hydrogen in purge gas, reduce 5255.8 Nm³·h^-1 of CO₂ emission and decrease 21.2% of the total gas production load. Furthermore, economic evaluation is also placed to account for the economic advantage of hybrid network.     

Upgrading biogas produced at dairy farms into renewable natural gas by methanation

Renewable natural gas can be produced from raw biogas, a product of the anaerobic decomposition of organic material, by upgrading its CO₂ content (25‐50%) via thermocatalytic hydrogenation (CO₂ methanation). The H₂ needed for this reaction can be generated by water electrolysis powered by carbon emission‐free energy sources such as renewable or nuclear power, or using surplus electricity. Herein, after briefly outlining some aspects of biogas production at dairy farms and highlighting recent developments in the design of methanation systems, a case study on the renewable natural gas generation is presented. The performance of a system for renewable natural gas generation from a 2000‐head dairy farm livestock manure is evaluated and assessed for its economic potential. The project is predicted to generate revenue through the sale of energy and carbon credits with the payback period of 5 years, with a subsidized energy price.     

Technical assessment of synthetic natural gas （SNG） production from agricul- ture residuals

This paper presents thermodynamic evaluations of the agriculture residual-to-SNG process by thermochemical conversion, which mainly consists of the interconnected fluidized beds, hot gas cleaning, fluidized bed methanation reactor and Selexol absorption unit. The process was modeled using Aspen Plus software. The process performances, i.e., CH 4 content in SNG, higher heating value and yield of SNG, exergy efficiencies with and without heat recovery, unit power consumption, were evaluated firstly. The results indicate that when the other parameters remain unchanged, the steam-to-biomass ratio at carbon boundary point is the optimal value for the process. Improving the preheating temperatures of air and gasifying agent is beneficial for the SNG yield and exergy efficiencies. Due to the effects of CO 2 removal efficiency, there are two optimization objectives for the SNG production process: (I) to maximize CH 4 content in SNG, or (II) to maximize SNG yield. Further, the comparison among different feedstocks indicates that the decreasing order of SNG yield is: corn stalk > wheat straw > rice straw. The evaluation on the potential of agriculture-based SNG shows that the potential annual production of agriculture residual-based SNG could be between 555×10 8～611×10 8 m 3 with utilization of 100% of the available unexplored resources. The agriculture residual-based SNG could play a significant role on solving the big shortfall of China’s natural gas supply in future.     

High efficient separation of H2/CH4 using ZIF-8/glycol-water slurry: Process modelling and multi-objective optimization

Hydrogen (H₂) is expected to play a vital role in future global energy system. The efficient and low-energy consumption process for H₂/CH₄ separation from hydrogen rich industrial off-gas is still a key challenge. The absorption-adsorption process for H₂/CH₄ separation using ZIF-8/glycol-water slurry is a promising alternative technique due to its high separation efficiency, mild operation conditions and continuous operation mode. We proposed two process configurations: a decompression desorption process A to obtain 99.5 mol% H₂; and a process B combined with decompression and H₂ stripping desorption to attain 99.99 mol% H₂. The detailed process modelling and multiple objective optimizations for two processes are conducted to determine optimal operation conditions, stream characteristics, and unit energy requirements. Results show that the H₂ recovery ratio and total unit energy consumption reaches 99.70% and 0.3876 kW·h/Nm³ for Process A; 99.47% and 0.4608 kW·h/Nm³ for Process B, respectively. It indicates the novel process can simultaneously achieve high purity and high H₂ recovery with low energy consumption.     

Electrolysis of coal slurries to produce hydrogen gas: Relationship between CO2 and H2 formation

The purpose of this study was to produce hydrogen gas by electrolysis of coal slurries and to investigate the relation between hydrogen (H₂) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) formation. Electrolysis of coal slurries was evaluated at 40 °C and 1.0 V cell potential to examine H₂ and CO₂relationship. When electrolysis was performed after the coal slurry was mixed with Fe(II)/Fe(III) ions and stirred overnight (>12 h), no CO₂ gas was observed at the anode compartment. The results of total organic carbon (TOC) indicated that after electrolysis, few organic compounds were transformed into the solution and these organic compounds did not convert into CO₂. GC analysis, on the other hand, revealed that the H₂ collected at the cathode was pure and did not require any further purification process. Hydrogen generation or electrolysis efficiency of coal slurries cannot be calculated or estimated by examining CO₂ generation as reported in the literature. Low temperature and low cell potential were not sufficient to oxidize coal quantitatively.     

Development and modelling of a novel electricity-hydrogen energy system based on reversible solid oxide cells and power to gas technology

Compared to the conventional thermal units and electrolytic devices, reversible fuel cells have very high efficiencies on both fuel cell mode of generating electricity and electrolysis mode of producing hydrogen or CH_x. However, previous studies about fuel cells and its benefits of power to gas are not fully investigated in the electricity-gas energy system. Moreover, state-of-art studies indicate that hydrogen could be directly injected to the existing natural gas (NG) pipeline within an amount of 5%–20%, which are considered to make a slight influence on the natural gas technologies. This work proposes a novel electricity-hydrogen energy system based on reversible solid oxide cells (RSOCs) to demonstrate the future vision of multi-energy systems on integrating multiple energy carriers such as electricity, pure hydrogen, synthetic natural gas (SNG) and mixed gas of H₂-natural gas. The P2G processes of RSOC are sub-divided modelled by power to H₂ (P2H) and power to SNG (P2SNG). The co-electrolysis/generation processes and time-dependent start-up costs are considered within a unit commitment model of RSOC. The proposed electricity-hydrogen energy system optimization model is formulated as mixed-integer linear programming (MILP), where the H₂-blended mixed gas flow is linearized by an incremental linearize relaxation technic. The aim of the optimization is to reduce the energy cost and enhance the system's ability to integrate sufficient renewables through NG networks. Besides quantified the benefits of renewable level and H₂ injection limit on the P2G process, the numerical results show that RSOC combined with H₂/SNG injection results in productive economic and environmental benefits through the energy system.     

2D thermal modeling of a solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) for syngas production by H2O/CO2 co-electrolysis

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) can be operated in a reversed mode as electrolyzer cells for electrolysis of H₂O and CO₂. In this paper, a 2D thermal model is developed to study the heat/mass transfer and chemical/electrochemical reactions in a solid oxide electrolyzer cell (SOEC) for H₂O/CO₂ co-electrolysis. The model is based on 3 sub-models: a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model describing the fluid flow and heat/mass transfer; an electrochemical model relating the current density and operating potential; and a chemical model describing the reversible water gas shift reaction (WGSR) and reversible methanation reaction. It is found that reversible methanation and reforming reactions are not favored in H₂O/CO₂ co-electrolysis. For comparison, the reversible WGSR can significantly influence the co-electrolysis behavior. The effects of inlet temperature and inlet gas composition on H₂O/CO₂ co-electrolysis are simulated and discussed.     

The feasibility of using geothermal energy in hydrogen production

A feasibility study exploring the use of geothermal energy in hydrogen production is presented. It is possible to use a thermal energy to supply heat for high temperature electrolysis and thereby substitute a part of the relatively expensive electricity needed. A newly developed HOT ELLY high temperature steam electrolysis process operates at 800 – 1000°C. Geothermal fluid is used to heat fresh water up to 200°C steam. The steam is further heated to 900°C by utilising heat produced within the electrolyser. The electrical power of this process is reduced from 4.6 kWh per normalised cubic meter of hydrogen (kWh/Nm³ H₂) for conventional process to 3.2 kWh/Nm³ H₂ for the HOT ELLY process implying electrical energy reduction of 29.5%. The geothermal energy needed in the process is 0.5 kWh/Nm³ H₂. Price of geothermal energy is approximately 8–10% of electrical energy and therefore a substantial reduction of production cost of hydrogen can be achieved this way. It will be shown that using HOT ELLY process with geothermal steam at 200°C reduces the production cost by approximately 19%.     

Syngas production through CH4-assisted co-electrolysis of H2O and CO2 in La0.8Sr0.2Cr0.5Fe0.5O3-δ-Zr0.84Y0.16O2-δ electrode-supported solid oxide electrolysis cells

High temperature co-electrolysis of H₂O/CO₂ allows for clean production of syngas using renewable energy, and the novel fuel-assisted electrolysis can effectively reduce consumption of electricity. Here, we report on symmetric cells YSZ-LSCrF | YSZ | YSZ-LSCrF, impregnated with Ni-SDC catalysts, for CH₄-assisted co-electrolysis of H₂O/CO₂. The required voltages to achieve an electrolysis current density of ?400 mA·cm^?2 at 850 °C are 1.0 V for the conventional co-electrolysis and 0.3 V for the CH₄-assisted co-electrolysis, indicative of a 70% reduction in the electricity consumption. For an inlet of H₂O/CO₂ (50/50 vol), syngas with a H₂:CO ratio of ≈2 can be always produced from the cathode under different current densities. In contrast, the anode effluent strongly depends upon the electrolysis current density and the operating temperature, with syngas favorably produced under moderate current densities at higher temperatures. It is demonstrated that syngas with a H₂:CO ratio of ≈2 can be produced from the anode at a formation rate of 6.5·mL min^?1·cm^?2 when operated at 850 °C with an electrolysis current density of ?450 mA·cm^?2.     

Simultaneous production of hydrogen and carbon nanotubes from biogas: On the design of combined process

We introduced a novel combined process of CO₂ methanation (METH) and catalytic decomposition of methane (CDM) for simultaneous production of hydrogen (H₂) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) from biogas. In this process, biogas is catalytically upgraded into CH₄-rich gas in METH reactor using Ni/CeO₂ catalyst, and the obtained CH₄-rich gas is subsequently decomposed into H₂ and CNTs in CDM reactor over CoMo/MgO catalyst. Among the three different process scenarios proposed, the combined process with a steam condenser equipped between METH and CDM reactors could greatly improve a CNTs productivity. The CNTs production yield increased by more than 2.5-fold, maximizing at 9.08 gCNTs/gCat with a CNTs purity of 90%. The deposited carbon product was characterized as multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with a surface area of 136.0 m²/g, comparable with commercial CNTs of 199.8 m²/g. The remarkable I_G/I_D ratio of 2.18 confirms a superior portion of graphitic carbon in the synthesized CNTs upon the commercial CNTs with I_G/I_D = 0.74. Notably, the CH₄ conversion reached 94.5%, while the CO₂ conversion achieved 100%, resulting in the H₂ yield and H₂ purity higher than 90%. This combined process demonstrates a promising route for production of high quality CNTs and high purity H₂ with complete CO₂ conversion using biogas as abundant renewable energy resources. In addition, the test of raw biogas showed no deactivation of catalyst, justifying the implementation of the developed process for real biogas without purification.     

Sr2Fe1.5+xMo0.5O6-δ cathode with exsolved Fe nanoparticles for enhanced CO2 electrolysis

Solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC) can perform CO₂ electrolysis to produce CO feedstock. In this work, we show Sr₂Fe_1.5+xMo_0.5O_6-δ with exsolved Fe nanoparticles to enhance the activity to CO₂ electrolysis. A single SOEC with a configuration of SF_1.5+xM-SDC/LSGM/LSM-SDC shows a current density of 1.16 A cm⁻² at 1.8 V, which presents the CO production rate of 6.85 mL min⁻¹ cm⁻² and the current efficiency of up to 96.3% at 850 °C. We further demonstrate a stable electrolysis performance without obvious degradation being observed even after a long-time operation of 100 h. The exsolved metal-oxide interfaces function as three phase boundary which transports gas molecules, oxygen ions and electrons and therefore accommodate CO₂ splitting in electrochemical process.     

Ammonia as a hydrogen energy carrier

The gravimetric H₂ densities and the heats of combustion of tanks stored ammonia (ammonia storage tanks) were similar to those of the liquid H₂ tanks at the weight of 20–30ton, although the gravimetric H₂ density of liquid H₂ is 100 wt%. The volumetric H₂ densities and the heats of combustion of ammonia storage tanks were about 2 times higher than those of liquid H₂ tanks at 1–4 × 10⁴ m³. Gray ammonia is synthesized from hydrogen through process known as steam methane reforming, nitrogen separated from air and Haber-Bosch process. Blue ammonia is the same as gray ammonia, but with CO₂ emissions captured and stored. Green ammonia is produced by reacting hydrogen produced by electrolysis of water and nitrogen separated from air with Haber-Bosch process using renewable energies. The energy efficiencies of gray, blue and green ammonia were better than those of liquid hydrogen and methylcyclohexane (MCH) with high H₂ density and similar to the efficiency of H₂ gas. The energy efficiencies of ammonia decreased in the order, gray ammonia > blue ammonia > green ammonia. The production costs of green hydrogen energy carried increased in the order, ammonia < liquid H₂<MCH. The amounts of energy consumption by N₂ production and Haber-Bosch process were below 10% compared with the value of H₂ production from water electrolysis.     

Techno-economic assessment of solar steam reforming of methane in a membrane reactor using molten salts as heat transfer fluid

This paper reports the results obtained in a techno-economic analysis of the Steam Methane Reforming (SMR) technology aided with solar heat, developed and demonstrated in the European FCH JU project CoMETHy: a compact membrane reformer heated with molten salt up to 550 °C allowed to simultaneously carry out methane steam reforming, water-gas-shift reaction and hydrogen separation. This reactor can be integrated with new generation Concentrating Solar Thermal (CST) systems to supply the process heat. Experimental validation of the technology has been successfully achieved in a pilot scale plant and the results recently published. In this paper, we introduce a fully-integrated scheme and operation strategies of a plant on the 1500 Nm³/h hydrogen production scale. Then, techno-economic analysis of this new solar-driven process is presented to evaluate its competitiveness. Considering a plant capacity of 1500 Nm³/h (pure hydrogen production) and today's costs for the methane feed and the CST technology, obtained Hydrogen Production Cost (HPC) are in the range of 2.8–3.3 €/kg for a “solar-hybrid” system with high capacity factor (8000 h/year operation) and 4.7 €/kg for a “solar-only” case, while HPC≅1.7 €/kg can be obtained with the conventional route under equivalent assumptions. However, a sensitivity analysis shows that the expected drop of the cost of the CST technology will bring the HPC around 2.4 €/kg for the “solar-hybrid” case and close to 3.4 €/kg for the “solar-only” case, thus making the cost of solar reforming closer to conventional SMR with CO₂ capture and with wind/solar electrolysis in the future. In the “solar-hybrid” case total CO₂ production can be reduced by 13–29% with 58–70% of produced CO₂ recovered as pure stream (at 1.3 bar); in the “solar-only” case total CO₂ production can be reduced by 52% and 100% of produced CO₂ recovered as pure stream (at 1.3 bar). However, compared to the conventional route, CO₂ avoidance costs are still relatively high (≥137 €/ton_CO2) and process optimization measures required. Therefore, optimization measures have been outlined to increase the overall process efficiency and further reduce the HPC.