NUCLEAR ENERGY AS AN EFFECTIVE FACTOR AN INCREASING EFFICIENCY AND PROFITABILITY HYDROGEN PRODUCTION PROCESSES AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE HYDROGEN ECONOMY (REVIEW)

Abstract

A complex of chemical-technological, energy, and techno-economic issues of the problem of hydrogen production using cost-effective technologies is considered, in particular, motivational and applied aspects of algorithmic transformation in the chain of interconnected energy factors-components of the problem: hydrogen and hydrogen energy → nuclear energy and hydrogen production → nuclear-hydrogen energy → hydrogen economy, in particular H2 transfer, safety technology, methods and technologies of H2 use. The motivating reasons, regularities and results of such a transformation, the concepts of its stages, the conceptual and categorical apparatus of the entire chain of transformations are outlined. The defining features of atomic energy are outlined from the point of view of its role and significance for H2 production processes. The classification of energy-intensive technologies in the context of the types of energy factors consumed by them, generated by nuclear power plants, is given. The chemical and technological bases of many energy-consuming processes of obtaining hydrogen, the profitability of which is ensured only under the conditions of the use of certain cheap energy factors of nuclear power plants, both individually and in combination, are considered: a) Industrial (currently operating), practically unprofitable for traditional energy sources, H2 production processes, in particular thermochemical ones using the transient thermal energy of nuclear power plants; electrolysis of water using heat and electricity; b) Innovative methods of obtaining hydrogen, the technologies of which are still being developed, namely: three methods of electrolysis of water using electrical and thermal energy; several methods based on the so-called thermochemical cycles, in particular plasma-chemical, sulfonic acid, etc., using cheap thermal energy from nuclear power plants; methods of water radiolysis using hard irradiation (g- or neutron type) and others. Attention is also paid to the important processes of obtaining compounds of hydrogen with intermetallics (and some metals) as means of accumulating H2 and technologies for its transfer to consumers. The applied value of the methods of industrial use of hydrides, in particular in the field of motor vehicles, is indicated; a schematic diagram of such use is given. In addition, the scheme of using the transient thermal energy of the nuclear reactor of the nuclear power plant for heating the CH4 conversion reactor with water vapor with the production of H2 is presented, and with the stage of effective utilization of the heat accumulated by the converted gas for heating raw materials by the method of their opposite flows. In addition, a scheme is presented for using the associated thermal energy of the AES nuclear reactor in industrial processes for the production of H2 by the conversion of traditional feedstock, moreover, with effective upwind utilization of the converted gas with heating of the feedstock. Bibl. 25, Fig. 2, Tab. 4.