Optimized Flow Sheet for a Reference Commercial-Scale Nuclear-Driven High-Temperature Electrolysis Hydrogen Production Plant

M. G. McKellar ; J. E. O'Brien ; E. A. Harvego ; J. S. Herring

关键词: ANODES;    BOUNDARY CONDITIONS;    COMPRESSORS;    CURRENT DENSITY;    ECONOMICS;    EFFICIENCY;    ELECTROLYSIS;    FLOWSHEETS;    HEATING;    HELIUM COOLED REACTORS;    HYDROGEN;    HYDROGEN PRODUCTION;    INTERSTITIAL HYDROGEN GENERATION;    OPTIMIZATION;    OXYGEN;    PRODUCTION hig;   

DOI  :  10.2172/924513
RP-ID  :  INL/EXT-07-13573
PID  :  OSTI ID: 924513
Others  :  TRN: US0802972

学科分类：再生能源与代替技术

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

This report presents results from the development and optimization of a reference commercialscale high-temperature electrolysis (HTE) plant for hydrogen production. The reference plant design is driven by a high-temperature helium-cooled reactor coupled to a direct Brayton power cycle. The reference design reactor power is 600 MWt, with a primary system pressure of 7.0 MPa, and reactor inlet and outlet fluid temperatures of 540° C and 900°C, respectively. The electrolysis unit used to produce hydrogen consists of 4.176 × 10 6 cells with a per-cell active area of 225 cm2. A nominal cell area-specific resistance, ASR, value of 0.4 Ohm•cm2 with a current density of 0.25 A/cm2 was used, and isothermal boundary conditions were assumed. The optimized design for the reference hydrogen production plant operates at a system pressure of 5.0 MPa, and utilizes an air-sweep system to remove the excess oxygen that is evolved on the anode side of the electrolyzer. The inlet air for the air-sweep system is compressed to the system operating pressure of 5.0 MPa in a four-stage compressor with intercooling. The overall system thermal-to-hydrogen production efficiency (based on the low heating value of the produced hydrogen) is 49.07% at a hydrogen production rate of 2.45 kg/s with the high-temperature helium-cooled reactor concept. The information presented in this report is intended to establish an optimized design for the reference nuclear-driven HTE hydrogen production plant so that parameters can be compared with other hydrogen production methods and power cycles to evaluate relative performance characteristics and plant economics.