Environmental, Economic, and Social Impacts of Methane Cracking for Hydrogen Production: A Comprehensive Review

Methane cracking (MC) is emerging as a low-carbon hydrogen production technology. This review conducts a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of 46 studies examining the sustainability of MC process. The review employs Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Cost (LCC), Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA), and Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) methodologies. The findings reveal that LCOH for MC technologies ranges from 0.9 to 6.6 $/kg H2, at the same time, GHG emissions span 0.8–14.5 kg CO2eq/kg H2, depending on the specific reactor configurations, plant geographical locations, and carbon revenues. These results indicate that MC can be competitive with steam methane reforming with carbon capture and electrolysis under certain conditions. However, the review identifies significant research gaps, including limited comprehensive LCA studies, a lack of social impact assessments, insufficient environmental impact analysis of molten media catalysts and particulate matter formation in MC processes, as well as insufficient analysis of the potential of biomethane cracking.