A Review on Sustainable Hydrogen Production via Sorption-Enhanced Chemical-Looping Steam Reforming: Recent Advances, Challenges, and Perspectives

The sorption-enhanced chemical-looping steam reforming (SE-CLSR) of liquid biofuels, such as bioethanol, biodiesel, and glycerol, emerges as an innovative technology for sustainable hydrogen production that effectively integrates in situ CO2 capture via solid sorbents with redox cycling. This paper discusses recent advances, challenges, and future perspectives on the SE-CLSR process in enhancing hydrogen production and CO2 capture. Key issues include system design, catalysts and sorbents used, and environmental and economic analysis for industrial applications. Moreover, the review evaluates recent SE-CLSR performance achievements and proposes strategies integrating in situ CO2 capture and utilization (CCU) by methane dry reforming (MDR), simultaneously creating high-purity hydrogen and syngas. Future research should focus on developing novel catalysts and sorbents, including a bifunctional material (BFM) for catalytic reforming reactions with CCU, optimizing SE-CLSR design, reducing the cost of CCU, and establishing the models for large-scale SE-CLSR implementation.