In order to evaluate quantitatively the effect of syngas cooling modes of slurry feed gasification on the hydrogen production process, two processes of gasification for hydrogen with petcoke as the feedstock were developed in the paper, which were petcoke water slurry + total quench + high water/dry gas (W/G) and petcoke water slurry + radiant syngas cooler + quench + low W/G, named by cases 1 and 2, respectively. The two processes were simulated by using Aspen Plus. The results show that with the operating parameters used by the system, the energy conversion efficiency of cases 1 and 2 are the same, which is 74%. The exergy efficiency of case 2 is higher than that of case 1, which are 62% and 61%, respectively. The water consumption of cases 1 and 2 are almost the same. However, the proportion of high-quality steam produced in case 2 is higher, and the quantity of high-quality steam is larger than that of case 1. The system profit of case 2 is better than that of case 1. Thus, case 2 is better than case 1 and is more suitable for petcoke gasification for hydrogen taking the gasification performance, energy utilization analysis, system water utility analysis, and system performance yield rate into account. Copyright (C) 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.