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

Technical Report · Thu Nov 01 04:00:00 EDT 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/924513· OSTI ID:924513

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

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.

• Research Organization: Idaho National Laboratory (INL)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE - NE
• DOE Contract Number: AC07-99ID13727
• OSTI ID: 924513
• Report Number(s): INL/EXT-07-13573
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

08 HYDROGEN
ANODES
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
COMPRESSORS
CURRENT DENSITY
ECONOMICS
EFFICIENCY
ELECTROLYSIS
FLOWSHEETS
HEATING
HELIUM COOLED REACTORS
HYDROGEN
HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
Hydrogen
INTERSTITIAL HYDROGEN GENERATION
Nuclear
OPTIMIZATION
OXYGEN
PRODUCTION
Reference flow sheet
high temperature electrolysis