Chemical processes and reactors for efficiently producing hydrogen fuels and structural materials, and associated systems and methods

A method for processing a hydrocarbon, comprising:

• dissociating a first hydrocarbon mass into first dissociation products by adding energy to the first hydrocarbon mass, wherein the energy includes:
• (a) waste heat generated by a combustion process carried out in a combustion chamber;
• and
• (b) energy from a sustainable energy source, and wherein the first hydrocarbon mass has a first dissociation energy;
• from the first dissociation products, providing:
• (a) a carbon-based structural building block;
• and
• (b) a hydrogen-based fuel having a second dissociation energy greater than the first dissociation energy;
• transferring heat from at least one of the carbon-based structural building block, the hydrogen-based fuel, and the dissociation products to a second hydrocarbon mass;
• dissociating the second hydrocarbon mass into second dissociation products;
• and
• from the structural building block, providing an architectural construct.