Hydrogen from Nuclear Power – An Affordable Solution

By Kamiel S. Gabriel, PhD, MBA, P.Eng.
Associate Provost, Research
University of Ontario Institute of Technology

As a result of recent global urgency regarding depleting oil reserves and climate change, many world leaders have come to the realization that society's dependence on petroleum is unsustainable, both environmentally and economically. It threatens geopolitical stability and, in many countries, it is a most serious issue of national security. In Canada, there is a sincere desire to pass a clean environment to the next generation. Canadians look forward to technological innovation that can combat climate change, smog, acid rain, and air and water pollution. At the workplace, they wish to stay competitive in industries vulnerable to high oil prices, primarily in the manufacturing, automotive and aerospace sectors.

Hydrogen demand is expected to increase dramatically over the next decades. Duffey (2007) has eloquently discussed the significance of hydrogen for sustainable development. Kloosterman (2003) has predicted that hydrogen demand from the chemical, fertilizer and petrochemical industries alone will rise by a factor of four over the next decade. This is a very rapid growth even by oil-industry standards, especially since it precedes an expected phase of far higher growth from the emerging hydrogen economy for the vehicle sector. In Alberta, oil sands development continues to require massive quantities of hydrogen to upgrade bitumen to synthetic crude.

Unlike hydrocarbons, hydrogen is a sustainable and clean energy carrier. It is widely believed to be the world's next-generation fuel. Ontario has already begun moving towards a hydrogen-fueled economy. For example, the HyLYZER refueling station at Exhibition Place in Toronto is part of Toronto's Hydrogen Village. The station produces about 65 kg of hydrogen per day using wind energy, which can supply hydrogen for about 20 vehicles. Unfortunately, wind power is incapable of producing consistent large-scale capacities of hydrogen needed for a worldwide hydrogen economy.

The predominant existing process for producing hydrogen is Steam-Methane Reforming (SMR) in which the main feedstock is natural gas.  The rising cost of natural gas and the need to sequester CO2 has tilted the economic balance away from the traditional SMR technology. As a result, there has been a renewed interest in producing hydrogen from non-fossil sources.  While the initial demand for hydrogen production may be met at this time by conventional electrolysis using off-peak electricity or SMR, growing demand could be met by large-scale thermochemical methods with the potential for significantly higher efficiencies.

Unlike SMR hydrogen production, nuclear-based methods do not emit greenhouse gases. A highly promising alternative without greenhouse gas emissions uses nuclear heat for electrolysis or thermochemical decomposition of water. Thermochemical cycles have been studied for decades, with only a handful being pursued for potential implementation.  Much international effort is being focused on the iodine-sulphur cycle and its variations, as well as High-Temperature Electrolysis (HTE). But these methods require temperatures in excess of 850°C from Very High Temperature Reactors (VHTR). In contrast, the copper-chlorine (Cu-Cl)  thermochemical cycle offers a number of advantages. It is of particular interest in utilizing heat from a CANDU Supercritical Water Cooled Reactor (SCWR) or integrating with a combined cycle in existing CANDU reactors. Even though it operates at far lower temperatures than most other thermochemical cycles (temperature ranges of 450-530° C), development of the Cu-Cl cycle will be exacting for equipment and materials. As a result, optimization of heat flows will be a key aspect to achieving high energy conversion efficiency (Wang et al., 2007).

A major effort is now under way, led by the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT), with participation from other institutions in Ontario, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), and the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) in the US. Efforts are focused on five major areas:

1. Thermal Efficiency and Economics;
2. Process Optimization and Thermochemical & Kinetic Properties;
3. Fluid Flow and Heat Exchanger Studies;
4. Mechanical Systems, Corrosion, and Materials; and
5. Controls, Safety and Reliability.

The main goal of this research is to extend current bench-top technology developed by AECL and ANL (Lewis, 2003), to larger scale capacities of hydrogen production using nuclear energy. For the Cu-Cl cycle, this specifically requires design, testing and control of new equipment therein. It includes the overall cycle, heat exchangers, materials and instrumentation. Development of this new equipment provides bright opportunities for future commercialization. This project is of strategic importance to Ontario and Canada by fostering technology transfer to the nuclear industry.

A leading-edge research team is working with our researchers at UOIT to advance this technology.  Team members include top scientists from AECL, the Universities of Western Ontario, Waterloo, Guelph, Toronto and Maribor (Slovenia), as well as the Argonne National Lab and many industrial partners. The research project has been endorsed by the Canadian Hydrogen Association and is financially supported by the Ministry of Research & Innovation (MRI), AECL and the Ontario Centres of Excellence. An application to the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) is also in final preparation at the time of writing this article.

References:
1. Duffey, R., Miller, A., CDN Hydrogen Association workshop, Oshawa, Ontario, May 30, 2007.
2. Kloosterman, J. L., IRI Symposium on Hydrogen, Delft, Netherlands, May, 2003
3. Lewis, M. A., Serban, M. Basco, J. K, ANS/ENS Meeting, New Orleans, November, 2003
4. Wang, Z., Naterer, G., and Gabriel, K., Hydrogen Production Using a Cu-Cl Thermochemical Cycle: Analysis of Heat Efficiency, CDN Hydrogen Association workshop, Oshawa, Ontario, May 30, 2007.

For further information, please contact:

Kamiel S. Gabriel, PhD, MBA, P.Eng.
Associate Provost, Research
University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT)
905-721-8668 ext. 2262
kamiel.gabriel@uoit.ca