Analysis of a novel nuclear electrothermal steam reforming scheme for clean industrial hydrogen

Abstract

This work develops and evaluates a nuclear electro-thermal steam methane reformer (SMR) architecture for refinery-scale hydrogen production in which a small modular nuclear reactor (SMNR) supplies steady steam and electricity. At the same time, the reforming duty is delivered electrically to a compact, responsive reformer. The SMR core is implemented as a circulating fluidized-bed reactor (CFBR) with cyclone separation and electrical reheating of recirculated catalyst in four heated diplegs, enabling near-isothermal operation and fast thermal response. Hydrogen is withdrawn via external Ni-based H2-selective membranes (two modules sized for the main permeate and downstream polishing). In contrast, downstream conditioning is provided by high-temperature and low-temperature water–gas shift. Carbon management is achieved by confining carbon to the syngas/tail-gas loop and applying a compact oxidation/condensation approach to generate a concentrated CO2 stream suitable for capture. Multiple Aspen Plus flowsheets coupled to an Engineering Equation Solver (EES) steam-Rankine model is used to synthesize the integrated process and quantify plant-level performance. At the design point, the plant produces ∼113 t/day H2 while capturing ∼614 t/day CO2, with an overall electricity demand of ∼13.2 kWh per kg H2, substantially below the ∼55 kWh per kg H2 typical of proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis at similar output. The results indicate that nuclear electro-thermal steam methane reforming (NET-SMR) is an “electricity-light” pathway to low-carbon refinery hydrogen that preserves SMR’s scale advantages while enabling high CO2 capture and nuclear-compatible heat-power integration.

Keywords: Circulating fluidized bed reformer, Direct carbon capture, Electrified steam methane reforming, Hydrogen-selective membrane, Nuclear hydrogen, Refinery decarbonization, Small nuclear reactor