A clean hydrogen and electricity co-production system based on an integrated plant with small modular nuclear reactor

The present study aims to develop a novel configuration of hydrogen and electricity co-production based on a small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) by synergistically integrating the Vanadium Chloride thermochemical (V–Cl) and helium-closed Brayton cycles. For the V–Cl thermochemical cycle, a steady-state simulation model is developed for the first time in the Aspen Plus environment. The entire system is assessed thermodynamically by calculating the exergy destruction rate and exergy efficiency of major components employed in different subsections (nuclear power production, clean hydrogen production, supporting Rankine cycle, hydrogen compression, and storage) of the plant. Various parametric studies are conducted to identify the scope of improvement and evaluate suitable operating parameters that exhibit optimized system performance. It is found that a maximum H2 production rate is achieved when the VCl4 flow is 3.6 kmol/h. A specific hydrogen production rate of 9.63 g/kWh is achieved. The reduction reactor and Deacon reactors are responsible for the highest and lowest exergy destruction with a value of 155.46 kW and 37.60 kW accounting for 49 % and 11.86 % of the overall exergy destruction within the V–Cl cycle. The share of power production from the secondary Rankine cycle in the overall hydrogen compression train is 16.48 %. The parametric study results show that with an outlet helium pressure of 15 bar, the overall work output and electrical efficiency peaked with a value of 4.6 MW and 15.64 % respectively. The overall energy and exergy efficiencies of the proposed system are found to be 16.94 % and 21.42 % respectively.