Title: Exergetic evaluation of a conceptual design for hydrogen production and seawater desalination using an advanced nuclear reactor as energy source

Authors: Daniel González Rodríguez; Fernando Roberto De Andrade Lima; Carlos Alberto Brayner De Oliveira Lira; Carlos Rafael García Hernández

Addresses: Centro Regional de Ciências Nucleares do Nordeste – CRCN-NE, Avenida Professor Luiz Freire, 1000, 50740-535 Recife, PE, Brazil ' Centro Regional de Ciências Nucleares do Nordeste – CRCN-NE, Avenida Professor Luiz Freire, 1000, 50740-535 Recife, PE, Brazil ' Departamento de Energía Nuclear, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Avenida Professor Luiz Freire, 1000, 50740-535 Recife, PE, Brazil ' Instituto Superior de Tecnologías y Ciencias Aplicadas (InSTEC/CUBA), Universidad de la Habana, Av. Salvador Allende esq. Luaces, 10400 La Habana, Cuba

Abstract: In this work, a computational model to develop the conceptual design for hydrogen production and seawater desalination based on a modular nuclear reactor as an energy source is presented. The four-step copper-chlorine (Cu-Cl) process is used to produce hydrogen coupled to the gas turbine modular helium reactor (GT-MHR) nuclear system through a Brayton cycle for the electrical energy generation. A fraction of the thermal energy from the GT-MHR system is used to reach and maintain the temperature requirements in the Cu-Cl process. The rejected heat from the oxy-decomposition reaction is used to desalinate seawater through a multi-stage flash (MSF) process. It is employed a chemical process simulator in order to develop a computational model of the proposed system. The global energy and exergy efficiencies of the proposal are 32.47% and 52.20% respectively, producing 0.2190 kg/s of hydrogen and desalinating 4.9492 kg/s of seawater. It is made an estimate of the cost of hydrogen produced using HEEP®, resulting in 2.77 $/kgH₂.

Keywords: nuclear hydrogen production; exergy; energy; efficiency; seawater desalination; cost estimative.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEX.2019.099294

International Journal of Exergy, 2019 Vol.28 No.4, pp.380 - 403

Received: 26 Nov 2018
Accepted: 15 Jan 2019
Published online: 25 Apr 2019 *

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