US-based NuScale Power Corporation has announced research programmes to develop an integrated energy system that can provide both clean water and an energy efficient means for hydrogen production.
A single NuScale Power Module (NPM) coupled to a state-of-the-art reverse osmosis desalination system could yield approximately 150m gallons of clean water a day without generating carbon dioxide. NuScale says 12 NPM’s could provide desalinated water for a city of 2.3m and also have surplus power to provide 400,000 homes with electricity.
While NPMs offer an immediate solution for cleanly powering desalination, the resulting brine production remains an environmental challenge. To address this issue, researchers at NuScale developed a new approach for hydrogen storage, transport, and production using leftover brine from the desalination process as industrial feedstock.
NuScale partnered with experts at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) to examine hydrogen production from an inert salt drawn from water desalination byproducts that is safe and easy to transport. NuScale’s hydro-thermal chemical decomposition approach to hydrogen production does not require electrolysis of water, driving down energy and water usage while lowering costs. Moreover, it is carbon-free if the energy for the conversion processes comes from NuScale’s integrated energy systems.
The research on this novel approach, presented at the World Petrochemical Conference in March, demonstrates progress for both desalination and clean hydrogen processes with historically challenging issues.
“The near-term predictions of global water scarcity have become increasingly alarming while the interest and financial incentives for producing clean hydrogen continue to grow,” said Dr José Reyes, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at NuScale Power. “What we have found is a win-win-win aimed at addressing water scarcity, brine remediation, and hydrogen production. We believe our breakthrough innovation can meet our global water challenges while providing clean, carbon-free energy.”
NuScale has also developed an Integrated Energy System simulator for hydrogen production (High-Temperature Steam Electrolysis Mode), hydrogen storage, and hydrogen power production (Fuel Cell Mode) at its headquarters in Corvallis, Oregon. The simulator enables the company to dynamically evaluate and optimise different configurations for a wide range of commercial scale industrial applications requiring more than 200 tonnes of hydrogen a day.
Reyes said NuScale continues to evaluate a wide range of SMR-powered hydrogen production methods. “Our operations team, working with GSE Solutions and Fuel Cell Energy, developed and coupled a Solid Oxide Electrolysis model for hydrogen production and a Fuel Cell model for power production to our Main Control Room Simulator. NuScale is the first SMR company to achieve this goal using integrated energy systems that support hydrogen production,” he noted.
