Nuclear Production of Hydrogen, Fourth Information Exchange ...

APPLICATION OF NUCLEAR-PRODUCED HYDROGEN FOR ENERGY AND INDUSTRIAL USE
Table 4: R&D on nuclear production of synthetic fuels
Process
Raw
materials
Nuclear
supply
Interim
products
Final
products
R&D
Comments
Water-splitting
steam reform.
H 2 O
CH 4 , H2O
Heat (1a)
Heat (1b)
Hydrogen
(H 2 )
Feed to the
following
processes
Many
countries
Various methods of
hydrogen production
shown in Figure 1
Ultra heavy oil
upgrading
CH 1.5
Heat
(Steam)
Hydrogen
SCO
(CH 2 )
Gasoline
diesel oil,
etc.
Canada,
S. Africa,
US, Japan
Upgrading from
bitumen from oil
sands
Coal
gasification
CH 0~1
Heat (2)
Hydrogen
Syn gas
(CO+H 2 )
FT oil (4)
S. Africa
Reduction of CO 2
emission to a half
Biomass
gasification
(C 6 H 12 O 6 ) n
Heat (2)
Hydrogen
Syn gas
(CO+H 2 )
FT oil (4)
US, Japan
Increase of efficiency
and yield of
conversion by
nuclear energy
CO 2
reduction
CO 2
Heat
Hydrogen (3)
Syn gas
(CO+H 2 )
FT oil (4)
US, Japan
Fuel production from
flue gas of coal fired
power plant
Relevant chemical reactions:
(1a) Hydrogen production by water-splitting H 2 O H 2 + (1/2)O 2
(1b)Hydrogen production by steam reforming CH 4 + H 2 O CO + 3H 2
(2) Hydrogen production by steam gasification of coal C + H 2 O CO + H 2
(3) Reduction of CO 2 by reverse shift reaction CO 2 + H 2 CO + H 2 O
(4) Synthesis of FT oil by Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reaction CO + 2H 2 → 1/n(CH 2 ) n + H 2 O
Figure 3: Concept of nuclear iron-making by carbon recycle
Fe 2
O 3
O 2
CO 2 H 2
Iron Ore
Reducing
Furnace
Reverse
Shift
Reaction
Vessel
CO+ H 2
O
Nuclear
Water
Splitting
Hydrogen
Production
Fe
CO
Separator
H 2 O
1 Reducing ore by CO 2 Carbon recycling by
reverse shift reaction of CO 2
Fe 2 O 3 + 3CO
3 CO 2 + 3H 2
2Fe + 3 CO 2 3CO + 3H 2 O
3 Water splitting by
nuclear energy
3H 2
O
3H 2
+ 1.5O 2
Fe 2 O 3 + Nuclear Energy 2Fe + 1.5O 2
Synergistic power generation using both fossil and nuclear energies
The present method of nuclear power generation is to convert the nuclear heat into electricity by a
heat engine (turbine generator), where the thermodynamic law limits the efficiency of conversion.
Most fossil fuels plant generates electricity by the same heat engine method using the combustion
heat of fuels, but recently there are some plants which convert chemical energy directly into electrical
energy using fuel cells.
NUCLEAR PRODUCTION OF HYDROGEN – © OECD/NEA 2010 93