Journal Home Online First Current Issue Archive For Authors Journal Information 中文版

Strategic Study of CAE >> 2019, Volume 21, Issue 1 doi: 10.15302/J-SSCAE-2019.01.004

Nuclear Hydrogen Production Based on High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor in China

Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Nuclear Energy Technology Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, 

Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Funding project:中国工程院咨询项目“新一代核能用材发展战略研究”(2016-ZD-06) Received: 2019-01-10 Revised: 2019-01-18

Next Previous

Abstract

Nuclear hydrogen production is one of the most prospective approaches for efficient, massive and CO2-free hydrogen production, while the high temperature gas cooled reactor (HTGR) which has been intensively developed in China is considered as the most suitable reactor type for nuclear hydrogen production. Currently, the HTGR demonstration plant, HTR-PM, is under construction under the framework of the National Science and Technology Major Project. The principles and main routes for nuclear hydrogen production, including the iodine-sulfur thermochemical water-splitting process, the hybrid sulfur process, as well as the high temperature steam electrolysis, are introduced. The progress of the nuclear hydrogen production technologies both in the world and China are shortly presented and reviewed, and its safety analysis and techno-economic assessment are discussed. In addition, the potential technologies for coupling to the reactor are discussed, and the industrial application of the nuclear hydrogen production based on HTGR is prospected, taking steelmaking by hydrogen as an example. Finally, the development strategy and prospects of nuclear hydrogen production technology in China are proposed.

Figures

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

References

[ 1 ] Zhang Z Y, Wu Z X, Wang D Z. Current status and technical description of Chinese 2 × 250 MWth HTR-PM demonstration plant [J]. Nuclear Engineering Design, 2009, 239(7): 1212–1219. link1

[ 2 ] Forsberg C W. Hydrogen, nuclear energy and the advanced high temperature reactor [J]. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. 2003, 28(10): 1073–1081. link1

[ 3 ] International Atomic Energy Agency. Hydrogen as an energy carrier and its production by nuclear power [R]. Vienna: International Atomic Energy Agency, 1999.

[ 4 ] Funk J E. Thermochemical hydrogen production: Past and present [J]. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2001, 26(3): 185–190. link1

[ 5 ] O ’Brien J A, Hinkley J T, Donne S W. Electrochemical oxidation of aqueous sulfur dioxide II. Comparative studies on platinum and gold electrodes [J]. Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 2012, 159(9): F585–F593. link1

[ 6 ] O ’Brien J E, Herring J S, Stoots C M, et al. Progress in high temperature electrolysis for hydrogen production using planar SOFC technology [J]. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2007, 32(4): 440–450. link1

[ 7 ] Kasahara S, Iwastuki J, Takegami H, et al. Current R&D status of thermochemical water splitting iodine-sulfur process in Japan Atomic Energy Agency [J]. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2017, 42(19): 13477–13485. link1

[ 8 ] Moore R, Parma E, Russ B. An integrated laboratory-scale experiment on the sulfur – Iodine thermochemical cycle for hydrogen production [R]. Washington, DC : Proceedings of HTR2008, 2008. link1

[ 9 ] Vitart X, Carles P, Anzieu P. A general survey of the potential and the main issues associated with the sulfur iodine thermochemical cycle for hydrogen production using nuclear heat [J]. Progress in Nuclear Energy, 2008, 50(2–6): 402–410.

[10] Lee B J, No H C, Yoon H J. Development of a flowsheet for iodine–sulfur thermo-chemical cycle based on optimized Bunsen reaction [J]. Internationgal Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2009, 34(5): 2133–2143. link1

[11] Neterer G F, Suppiah S, Stolberg L, et al. Progress in thermochemical hydrogen production with the copperechlorine cycle [J]. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2015, 40(19): 6283–6295.

[12] El-Emam RS, Khamis I. Advances in nuclear hydrogen production:Results from an IAEA international collaborative research project [J]. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.04.012. link1

[13] Zhang P, Wang L J, Chen S, et al. Progress of nuclear hydrogen production through the iodine-sulfur process in China [J]. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2018 (18): 1802–1812. link1

[14] Guo H F, Zhang P, Chen S Z, et al. Modeling and validation of the iodine-sulfur hydrogen production process [J]. AIChE Journal, 2014, 60(2): 546–558. link1

[15] Zhang P, Yu B, Xu J M. Development of the technology for nuclear production of hydrogen in China [J]. Nuclear and Radiochemistry, 2011, 33(4): 193–203. Chinese.

[16] Xue L, Zhang P, Chen S Z, et al. Quantitative analysis of the cell voltage of SO2-depolarized electrolysis in hybrid sulfur process [J]. Nuclear Engineering and Design, 2016, 306: 203–207. link1

[17] Sato H, Ohashi H, Nakagawa S, et al. Safety design consideration for HTGR coupling with hydrogen production plant [J]. Progress in Nuclear Energy, 2015 (82): 46–52. link1

[18] Allen D, Pickard P, Patterson M. NHI economic analysis of candidate nuclear hydrogen process [C]. Oakbrook: The fourth information exchange meeting of nuclear production of hydrogen, 2009. link1

[19] El-Emam RS, Ozcan H, Dincer I. Comparative cost evaluation of nuclear hydrogen production methods with the Hydrogen Economy Evaluation Program (HEEP) [J]. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2015, 40(34): 11168–11177. link1

[20] Yan X, Kasahara S, Tachibana Y, et al. Study of a nuclear energy supplied steelmaking system for near-term application [J]. Energy, 2012 (39): 154–165. link1

Related Research