Method and system for reducing emissions in hydrogen production

A system for producing low carbon hydrogen (H2), comprising:

• a steam methane reformer (SMR) configured to produce a syngas stream from natural gas and steam, the syngas stream comprising H2, CO, CO2, H2O, and unreacted CH4;
• a water-gas shift reaction system configured to receive the syngas stream a and to perform a water-gas shift process to react residual H2O in the syngas stream with CO to form additional H2 and CO2 and thereby produce a shifted syngas stream, the shifted syngas stream having less H2O, more H2, and more CO2 than the syngas stream;
• a first membrane separation module configured to receive the shifted syngas stream at an inlet, the first membrane separation module comprising a first facilitated transport membrane (FTM), wherein the first FTM has a composition that facilitates selective permeation of CO2 from a retentate side to a permeate side of the first FTM over other components of the shifted syngas stream at the humidity level of the shifted syngas stream such that the first membrane separation module is configured to produce a CO2-depleted shifted syngas stream at the retentate side and a first CO2 product stream at the permeate side;
• a CO2 product flow path configured to flow CO2 from the permeate side of the first FTM;
• and
• a gas separation unit configured to receive the CO2-depleted shifted syngas stream and to separate H2 from other components of the CO2-depleted shifted syngas stream to produce an H2 product stream and a tail gas stream.