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Life cycle impact assessment of hydrogen production from plastic waste polymers
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This study presents a comparative life cycle assessment of six pathways for producing and transporting hydrogen from plastic waste, finding that waste polymer gasification combined with carbon capture and storage and liquid organic hydride transport consistently delivers the lowest environmental impact compared to conventional steam methane reforming.
Abstract The demand for plastic has led to a large increase in plastic waste. Converting that waste into hydrogen offers environmental benefits. To promote more sustainable practices, it is essential to use life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impacts of hydrogen production and transportation. This study provides a comparative LCA of six different pathways for hydrogen production and transportation. Two main hydrogen production methods such as waste polymer gasification (WPG) and steam methane reforming (SMR) are considered in the LCA analysis. WPG is further examined both with and without carbon capture and storage (CCS) to assess the impact of emissions. For transportation, this study considers both conventional compressed hydrogen and liquid organic hydride (LOH) methods over a 400 km distance. Our findings show that WPG combined with CCS and LOH transport consistently reduces environmental impacts compared to traditional methods. This suggests that these technologies can play an important role in a more sustainable hydrogen economy. Future research on the integration of clean energy technologies could further reduce the environmental footprint of hydrogen production and transport. Graphical abstract
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