Jaehyung Jung  Jinhee Lee  Dong Kyoo Park  Soo Nam Park  Jae-Hong Ryu

Vol. 31,  No. 4, pp. 294-301, Dec.  2025
10.7464/ksct.2025.31.4.294

Turquoise hydrogen Methane pyrolysis Plasma-catalyst integration Techno-economic analysis Levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH)

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This study presents a techno-economic analysis of turquoise hydrogen production via methane pyrolysis using two different configurations: a plasma-only process and an integrated plasma-catalyst system. Material and energy balances were established based on laboratory-scale experiments and subsequently scaled up to a commercial hydrogen production capacity of 0.12 kg s–1. The levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) was calculated by considering the purchased equipment cost (PEC), operation and maintenance (O&M), fuel, electricity consumption, and carbon credit from solid carbon by-product sales costs. According to 2024 economic indicators (CEPCI = 798.8, electricity 85 $ MWh–1, natural gas 45 $ MWh–1), the plasma process showed an LCOH of 12.97 $ kg-H2 –1, while the integrated process achieved a lower LCOH of 9.95 $ kg-H2 –1, corresponding to a reduction of approximately 23%. The improved economics of the integrated process originated from the reduced electricity consumption, which outweighed the modest increases in PEC and O&M costs. In contrast, the small-scale integrated system (1.16 e–4 kg s–1) resulted in an excessively high LCOH of 57.35 $ kg-H2 –1 due to disproportionally high PEC and O&M contributions, highlighting the significance of plant scale processing for cost competitiveness. Sensitivity analysis revealed that electricity price is the dominant factor affecting LCOH, especially for the plasma-only process, whereas the integrated system demonstrated lower sensitivity. These findings suggest that integration of catalytic conversion with plasma pyrolysis can enhance its economic feasibility, particularly with reduced electricity costs and large-scale operations. Furthermore, the findings suggest that commercialization efforts should focus on securing low-cost electricity sources and valorizing solid carbon co-products.