Computational model of a sulfur-iodine thermochemical water splitting system coupled to a VHTR for nuclear hydrogen production

Abstract

Sulfur-Iodine thermochemical water splitting cycle coupled is one of the most promising methods for hydrogen production using a nuclear reactor as the primary energy source. However, there are not references in the scientific publications of a test facility that allow to evaluate the efficiency of the overall process. A computational model for the evaluation and optimization of the sulfur-iodine cycle coupled to a very high temperature reactor for nuclear hydrogen production was developed using a chemical process simulator Aspen HYSYS®. Some operational and design parameters of the cycle sections can be optimized in order to obtain the maximum hydrogen production and higher efficiency. The optimized sections of the flowsheet are coupled to a very high temperature nuclear system (TADSEA) through a Brayton gas cycle for power cogeneration. It is proposed a closed flowsheet for the sulfur-iodine thermochemical water splitting cycle coupled to an accelerator driven system, considering a Brayton cycle for the energy production. It is obtained an acceptable value of global efficiency for the initial operating condition. Several parametric studies are conducted using the flowsheet proposed to evaluate important operating parameters in the overall process efficiency.