Analysis of Reference Design for Nuclear-Assisted Hydrogen Production at 750°C Reactor Outlet Temperature

Download or read book Analysis of Reference Design for Nuclear-Assisted Hydrogen Production at 750°C Reactor Outlet Temperature written by and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The use of High Temperature Electrolysis (HTE) for the efficient production of hydrogen without the greenhouse gas emissions associated with conventional fossil-fuel hydrogen production techniques has been under investigation at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INL) for the last several years. The activities at the INL have included the development, testing and analysis of large numbers of solid oxide electrolysis cells, and the analyses of potential plant designs for large scale production of hydrogen using a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) to provide the process heat and electricity to drive the electrolysis process. The results of this research led to the selection in 2009 of HTE as the preferred concept in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) hydrogen technology down-selection process. However, the down-selection process, along with continued technical assessments at the INL, has resulted in a number of proposed modifications and refinements to improve the original INL reference HTE design. These modifications include changes in plant configuration, operating conditions and individual component designs. This report describes the resulting new INL reference design coupled to two alternative HTGR power conversion systems, a Steam Rankine Cycle and a Combined Cycle (a Helium Brayton Cycle with a Steam Rankine Bottoming Cycle). Results of system analyses performed to optimize the design and to determine required plant performance and operating conditions when coupled to the two different power cycles are also presented. A 600 MWt high temperature gas reactor coupled with a Rankine steam power cycle at a thermal efficiency of 44.4% can produce 1.85 kg/s of hydrogen and 14.6 kg/s of oxygen. The same capacity reactor coupled with a combined cycle at a thermal efficiency of 42.5% can produce 1.78 kg/s of hydrogen and 14.0 kg/s of oxygen.