Comparative environmental impact and efficiency assessment of selected hydrogen production methods

• Environmental performance of nuclear-based hydrogen production is investigated.
• The GWP and AP results are compared with various hydrogen production processes.
• Nuclear based 4-step Cu–Cl cycle is found to be an environmentally benign process.
• Wind-based electrolysis has the lowest AP value.

The environmental impacts of various hydrogen production processes are evaluated and compared, considering several energy sources and using life cycle analysis. The results indicate that hydrogen produced by thermochemical water decomposition cycles are more environmentally benign options compared to conventional steam reforming of natural gas. The nuclear based four-step Cu–Cl cycle has the lowest global warming potential (0.559 kg CO2-eq per kg hydrogen production), mainly because it requires the lowest quantity of energy of the considered processes. The acidification potential results show that biomass gasification has the highest impact on environment, while wind based electrolysis has the lowest. The relation is also investigated between efficiency and environmental impacts.