Use of a Nuclear High Temperature Gas Reactor in a Coal-to-Liquids Process

摘要

AREVAs High Temperature Gas Reactor (HTGR) can potentially provide nuclear-generated, high-level heat to chemical process applications. The use of nuclear heat to help convert coal to liquid fuels is particularly attractive because of concerns about the future availability of petroleum for vehicle fuels. This report was commissioned to review the technical and economic aspects of how well this integration might actually work. The objective was to review coal liquefaction processes and propose one or more ways that nuclear process heat could be used to improve the overall process economics and performance. Shells SCGP process was selected as the gasifier for the base case system. It operates in the range of 1250 to 1600DGC to minimize the formation of tars, oil, and methane, while also maximizing the conversion of the coals carbon to gas. Synthesis gas from this system is cooled, cleaned, reacted to produce the proper ratio of hydrogen to carbon monoxide and fed to a Fischer-Tropsch (FT) reaction and product upgrading system. The design coal-feed rate of 18,800 ton/day produces 26.000 barrels/day of FT products. Thermal energy at approximately 850 degrees C from a HTGR does not directly integrate into this gasification process efficiently.