Hydrogen production from plastic waste processing: a review

Plastic waste is both a critical pollution problem and a promising resource for low-carbon hydrogen. This review summarizes thermochemical and emerging routes for H2 production from plastic waste, focusing on pyrolysis-integrated methods, i.e., pyrolysis catalytic steam reforming (PCSR), pyrolysis c...

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Autores: Salman, Muhammad, Moral Real, Gonzalo, Gorri Cirella, Daniel|||0000-0002-5403-1545, Ortiz Uribe, Inmaculada|||0000-0002-3257-4821, Ortiz Sainz de Aja, Alfredo|||0000-0002-3268-8116
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2026
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Cantabria (UC)
Repositorio:UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:repositorio.unican.es:10902/39398
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10902/39398
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Plastic waste
Hydrogen production
Pyrolysis
Reforming
Membrane
Pressure swing adsorption
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spelling Hydrogen production from plastic waste processing: a reviewSalman, MuhammadMoral Real, GonzaloGorri Cirella, Daniel|||0000-0002-5403-1545Ortiz Uribe, Inmaculada|||0000-0002-3257-4821Ortiz Sainz de Aja, Alfredo|||0000-0002-3268-8116Plastic wasteHydrogen productionPyrolysisReformingMembranePressure swing adsorptionPlastic waste is both a critical pollution problem and a promising resource for low-carbon hydrogen. This review summarizes thermochemical and emerging routes for H2 production from plastic waste, focusing on pyrolysis-integrated methods, i.e., pyrolysis catalytic steam reforming (PCSR), pyrolysis catalytic dry reforming (PCDR), pyrolysis catalytic oxidative steam reforming (PCOSR), pyrolysis plasma catalytic reforming (PPCR), and microwave-assisted pyrolysis (MAP), alongside photo-reforming (PR), electro-reforming (ER), and flash Joule heating (FJH). The different alternatives were compared in terms of H2 yields, gas compositions, and the influence of operating variables such as temperature, catalysts, and feed characteristics. Moreover, the subsequent H2 purification via pressure swing adsorption (PSA) and membranes is also assessed. Among reported systems, PCSR and PCDR show the highest and most scalable H2 production, with pilot-scale demonstrations, while PR and ER provide high-purity H2 under mild conditions but remain limited in throughput. Remaining challenges include catalyst deactivation, energy and carbon efficiency, process integration, and techno-economic feasibility, which must be addressed to enable large-scale deployment of plastic-to-hydrogen technologies within a circular H2 economy.This research is being supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the projects PID2021-123120OB-I00, PID2024-156863OB-I00, PDC2025-165127-I00 and “Complementary Plan for Energy and Renewable Hydrogen” additionally supported with funding from European Union NextGenerationEU (PRTR-C17.I1) and by Comunidad Autónoma de Cantabria. Furthermore, authors also acknowledge the funds received within the project PLAST4H2 EAPA 0018/2022 within the framework on the INTERREG ATLANTIC program. Gonzalo Moral is grateful to the FPU postgraduate research grant awarded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.Elsevier LtdUniversidad de Cantabria20262026-03-06journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501NAhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_be7fb7dd8ff6fe43info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttps://hdl.handle.net/10902/39398International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2026, 215, 153763reponame:UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabriainstname:Universidad de Cantabria (UC)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationalhttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:repositorio.unican.es:10902/393982026-06-02T12:39:31Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Hydrogen production from plastic waste processing: a review
title Hydrogen production from plastic waste processing: a review
spellingShingle Hydrogen production from plastic waste processing: a review
Salman, Muhammad
Plastic waste
Hydrogen production
Pyrolysis
Reforming
Membrane
Pressure swing adsorption
title_short Hydrogen production from plastic waste processing: a review
title_full Hydrogen production from plastic waste processing: a review
title_fullStr Hydrogen production from plastic waste processing: a review
title_full_unstemmed Hydrogen production from plastic waste processing: a review
title_sort Hydrogen production from plastic waste processing: a review
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Salman, Muhammad
Moral Real, Gonzalo
Gorri Cirella, Daniel|||0000-0002-5403-1545
Ortiz Uribe, Inmaculada|||0000-0002-3257-4821
Ortiz Sainz de Aja, Alfredo|||0000-0002-3268-8116
author Salman, Muhammad
author_facet Salman, Muhammad
Moral Real, Gonzalo
Gorri Cirella, Daniel|||0000-0002-5403-1545
Ortiz Uribe, Inmaculada|||0000-0002-3257-4821
Ortiz Sainz de Aja, Alfredo|||0000-0002-3268-8116
author_role author
author2 Moral Real, Gonzalo
Gorri Cirella, Daniel|||0000-0002-5403-1545
Ortiz Uribe, Inmaculada|||0000-0002-3257-4821
Ortiz Sainz de Aja, Alfredo|||0000-0002-3268-8116
author2_role author
author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Universidad de Cantabria
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Plastic waste
Hydrogen production
Pyrolysis
Reforming
Membrane
Pressure swing adsorption
topic Plastic waste
Hydrogen production
Pyrolysis
Reforming
Membrane
Pressure swing adsorption
description Plastic waste is both a critical pollution problem and a promising resource for low-carbon hydrogen. This review summarizes thermochemical and emerging routes for H2 production from plastic waste, focusing on pyrolysis-integrated methods, i.e., pyrolysis catalytic steam reforming (PCSR), pyrolysis catalytic dry reforming (PCDR), pyrolysis catalytic oxidative steam reforming (PCOSR), pyrolysis plasma catalytic reforming (PPCR), and microwave-assisted pyrolysis (MAP), alongside photo-reforming (PR), electro-reforming (ER), and flash Joule heating (FJH). The different alternatives were compared in terms of H2 yields, gas compositions, and the influence of operating variables such as temperature, catalysts, and feed characteristics. Moreover, the subsequent H2 purification via pressure swing adsorption (PSA) and membranes is also assessed. Among reported systems, PCSR and PCDR show the highest and most scalable H2 production, with pilot-scale demonstrations, while PR and ER provide high-purity H2 under mild conditions but remain limited in throughput. Remaining challenges include catalyst deactivation, energy and carbon efficiency, process integration, and techno-economic feasibility, which must be addressed to enable large-scale deployment of plastic-to-hydrogen technologies within a circular H2 economy.
publishDate 2026
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2026
2026-03-06
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
NA
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_be7fb7dd8ff6fe43
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/10902/39398
url https://hdl.handle.net/10902/39398
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier Ltd
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier Ltd
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2026, 215, 153763
reponame:UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
instname:Universidad de Cantabria (UC)
instname_str Universidad de Cantabria (UC)
reponame_str UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
collection UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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score 15,812429

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