Techno-economic analysis of four concepts for thermal decomposition of methane: Reduction of CO2 emissions in natural gas combustion

•Four concepts combine thermal decomposition of methane (TDM) with power production.•The economy and CO2 emissions were compared to the reference of methane combustion.•A moderate carbon price resulted in cost of electricity production below reference.•The best performing concept produced 17% less CO2 per MWhe than the reference.•TDM could be applied to reduce CO2 emissions in certain techno-economic conditions.

This paper presents a techno-economic analysis of four concepts that apply the thermal decomposition of methane (TDM) with the aim of reducing carbon dioxide emissions in natural gas combustion. Different technical solutions are applied to convert methane in natural gas to gaseous hydrogen, which is combusted to produce electricity with a steam power cycle, and solid carbon, which is assumed to be sold as carbon black. The cost of electricity production and the potential to reduce CO2CO2 emissions in each concept were evaluated and compared to the reference case of direct methane combustion. With a moderate emission allowance price (20€/tCO2) and product carbon price (500€/tcarbon) the cost of electricity production in the concepts was 12–58% higher than in the reference case. However, the price of product carbon had a significant effect on the feasibility of the concepts. Thus, the methane burner, which showed the best performance, produced 17% less CO2CO2 emissions per MWhe and had a smaller cost of electricity production than the reference case already with the carbon price of 600–700€/tcarbon.