Methane Pyrolysis

Methane pyrolysis produces hydrogen from natural gas without releasing carbon dioxide, most practically by bubbling methane through a molten metal catalyst in a single step process, a method demonstrated in laboratory conditions in 2017 and now being tested at larger scale. The reaction, methane splitting into solid carbon and two hydrogen molecules, proceeds at a high temperature around 1,065 degrees Celsius and needs about 18 kilowatt hours of electricity for process heat to produce each kilogram of hydrogen. Rather than carbon dioxide, methane pyrolysis yields solid carbon as its byproduct, which can be sold as a manufacturing feedstock, mixed into asphalt paving, or simply landfilled, and hydrogen produced this way, without greenhouse gas emissions, is known as turquoise hydrogen. As of 2023 methane pyrolysis technology remained in early development at several companies, with real obstacles still to clear before it reaches commercial scale.