The Hybrid Sulfur Cycle for Nuclear Hydrogen Production

Conference · Thu Sep 08 04:00:00 EDT 2005

OSTI ID:881467

Summers, William A; Gorensek, Maximilian B; Buckner, Melvin R

Two Sulfur-based cycles--the Sulfur-Iodine (SI) and the Hybrid Sulfur (HyS)--have emerged as the leading thermochemical water-splitting processes for producing hydrogen utilizing the heat from advanced nuclear reactors. Numerous international efforts have been underway for several years to develop the SI Cycle, but development of the HyS Cycle has lagged. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the background, current status, recent development results, and the future potential for this thermochemical process. Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has been supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy, Science, and Technology since 2004 to evaluate and to conduct research and development for the HyS Cycle. Process design studies and flowsheet optimization have shown that an overall plant efficiency (based on nuclear heat converted to hydrogen product, higher heating value basis) of over 50% is possible with this cycle. Economic studies indicate that a nuclear hydrogen plant based on this process can be economically competitive, assuming that the key component, the sulfur dioxide-depolarized electrolyzer, can be successfully developed. SRNL has recently demonstrated the use of a proton-exchange-membrane electrochemical cell to perform this function, thus holding promise for economical and efficient hydrogen production.

• Research Organization: Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC09-96SR18500
• OSTI ID: 881467
• Report Number(s): WSRC-MS-2005-00509
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

08 HYDROGEN
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
DESIGN
ECONOMICS
EFFICIENCY
ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS
FLOWSHEETS
HEATING
HYDROGEN
HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
NUCLEAR ENERGY
OPTIMIZATION
REACTORS
SAVANNAH RIVER PLANT
SULFUR
SULFUR CYCLE