Hydrogen harvested from mixed waste plastics

According to Kevin Wyss, a Rice doctoral alumnus and lead author on a study published in Advanced Materials, the method also produces high-value graphene.

“If the produced graphene is sold at only five per cent of current market value ⎯ a 95 per cent off sale! ⎯ clean hydrogen could be produced for free,” Wyss said in a statement.

By comparison, ‘green’ hydrogen costs roughly $5 for just over two pounds. Though cheaper, most of the nearly 100 million tons of hydrogen used globally in 2022 was derived from fossil fuels, its production generating roughly 12 tons of carbon dioxide per ton of hydrogen.

“The main form of hydrogen used today is ‘grey’ hydrogen, which is produced through steam-methane reforming, a method that generates a lot of carbon dioxide” said James Tour, Rice’s T. T. and W. F. Chao Professor of Chemistry and a professor of materials science and nanoengineering. “Demand for hydrogen will likely skyrocket over the next few decades, so we can’t keep making it the same way we have up until now if we’re serious about reaching net zero emissions by 2050.”