Life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis of biomass-to-hydrogen production with methane tri-reforming

In this study, the techno-economic, energy consumption (EC), and environmental performances of biomass-to-hydrogen (BTH) production with/without methane tri-reforming (MTR) from corn straw were studied. The techno-economic analysis includes an assessment of the energy efficiency, MTR operating conditions, total capital investment (TCI), production cost (PC), and payback period. The BTH energy efficiency with MTR is 17.08% higher than that without MTR. The Claus unit is the largest contribution unit of energy loss. The reaction temperature and operating pressure of one MTR unit are 800 °C and 0.1 MPa, respectively. Compared with BTH without MTR, the TCI of BTH with MTR increased by 10.97%, and the PC decreased by 10.12%. The static payback period of BTH with MTR is approximately 4.72 yr. BTH without MTR exhibits 3.09% less EC and 7.85% greenhouse gas emissions than that of BTH with MTR. The life cycle analysis of the BTH process illustrates that the BTH with MTR can realize negative carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions when considering the natural carbon cycle. The evaluation method combines a thermodynamic analysis with a life cycle assessment, which is significant for the development of clean hydrogen production technology with low carbon and high energy savings.