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| Home > Workflow collections > In process > Life Cycle Assessment of Hydrogen Production via Steam Methane Reforming Using Methane from Landfill Waste |
| Abstract | FZJ-2026-03297 |
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2026
Abstract: As sustainable energy options are in demand, hydrogen production from waste is growing. This studypresents an environmental assessment of hydrogen production using methane (CH4) produced from landfillwaste through biochemical methane potential (BMP) tests. Landfill waste yields methane, which isproduced on a laboratory scale via anaerobic digestion and utilized as a renewable feedstock for steammethane reformation (SMR). Using SimaPro 9.4 software, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was conductedfollowing ISO 14040/14044 standards with a gate-to-gate system boundary. The functional unit was definedas 1 kg of hydrogen produced by the SMR system, and the impact assessment was evaluated using ReCiPe2016 (Midpoint and Endpoint) methods. According to the midpoint assessment results, global warming,resource scarcity, ecotoxicity, water consumption, and terrestrial acidification were the most significantlyaffected impact categories. The findings further revealed that the use of a nickel-based catalyst in the SMRsystem, and consequently its production process, was responsible for the largest share of the overallenvironmental burden. Network contribution analysis indicated that nickel production accounted forapproximately 99.5% of the total environmental burden, while the contributions of other inputs, such aselectricity and biogas treatment, were negligible in comparison to the nickel-based catalyst. Furthermore,the Endpoint assessment results indicated that human health impacts accounted for 56.1 Pt (97.6%), thelargest share of total environmental damage, followed by resource depletion and ecosystem quality. Theoverall weight of the environmental impact of 1 kg of hydrogen was calculated as 57.5 Pt. Thus, the overallresults emphasize the importance of material selection for (SMR) systems and minimizing catalyst-relatedconsequences to improve environmental sustainability.Keywords: waste-to-energy, life cycle assessment (LCA), steam methane reforming (SMR), hydrogenproduction, SimaPro.
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