Production of Hydrogen by Steam Methane Reformation Process

Abstract

Upcoming hydrogen economy is on rise on political agenda due to growing need of hydrogen. Natural occurrence of hydrogen cannot satisfy the present need of hydrogen. It produces a wide gap between current hydrogen requirement and amount of hydrogen present in earth. To counter this problem, hydrogen is produced commercially in industries through various methods. Among all these methods, SMR (Steam Methane Reforming) process is considered most feasible for being economically cheap as compared to other methods. Being economical does not necessarily mean being eco-friendly. Industrialist does not switch on alternative methods and continue using SMR process which is producing a devastating impact on atmosphere by increasing the amount of CO2 (carbon dioxide). Greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide makes it one of the primary sources of increasing global warming in earth's atmosphere. Apart of other uses, Hydrogen can also be used as eco-friendly energy source as compared to fossil fuel used as energy source. In this paper, the procedure of production of hydrogen through SMR process is reviewed in detail and its pros and cons are discussed.