In its research laboratories in Tomsk, the Russian energy company Gazprom is developing a technology for converting fossil natural gas into climate-neutral hydrogen. 

The “Welt am Sonntag” reports, citing its own information. In so-called methane pyrolysis, natural gas is broken down into its components hydrogen and carbon by heat.

The process only requires a fraction of the energy that was required in the electrolysis process for hydrogen production that was customary up to now. In contrast to hydrogen production through steam reforming of natural gas, which is also used in industry, no greenhouse gas CO2 is produced during pyrolysis, the newspaper reports. 

In the future, Gazprom would have the technological option of adding increasing amounts of hydrogen to its natural gas supplies destined for the European market, in order to further improve the carbon footprint of the energy source. The by-product carbon is to be used as a raw material for various industrial processes and consumer goods.