(320d) Utilization of Nuscale Voygr Integrated Energy System (IES) for the Production of Green Methanol and Synthetic Fuels Via Hydrogenation of CO2 from Direct Air Capture (DAC)

Authors: Francis Tsang, NuScale Power, LLC, Technical Advisor, USA, Ftsang@nuscalepower.com

José Reyes, NuScale Power, LLC, Chief Technology Officer, USA, jreyes@nuscalepower.com

Luis DePavia, NuScale Power, LLC, Innovation Manager, USA, LDePavia@nuscalepower.com

Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol (CH₃OH), is a highly versatile chemical widely used for industrial purposes and prevalent in our everyday lives. It is a base material in acetic acid and formaldehyde, and also increasingly being used in ethylene and propylene. Methanol is one of the most prolific intermediate material for the production of other chemicals and materials. In the chemical industry methanol mainly serves as a raw material in the production of formaldehyde, olefins, acetic acid, MTBE, DME as well as biodiesel. So, renewable methanol is a pre-requisite for making a broad range of chemical products green such as polymer fibers for the textile industry, plastics for packaging, glues, adsorbents/diapers, paints, adhesives, solvents and much more. Besides its use in the chemical, construction and plastics industries, methanol also serves as a fuel or fuel additive. The conventional production method involves a catalytic process using fossil feedstock such as natural gas, coal, or syngas.

Currently, the predominant method of producing hydrogen and CO₂ for Methanol, Urea, and Ammonia (Fertilizer) production is the steam-methane reforming process in which natural gas containing Methane (CH₄), or syngas, a mixture of H₂, CO and CO₂, are used both as the feedstock and combustion fuel for process heat. Unfortunately, all these processes result in significant CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere.

An environmentally friendly and extremely efficient approach to hydrogenate CO₂ would be to use an Integrated Energy System (IES) that includes a NuScale VOYGR nuclear power plant (NPP) for electric power, steam, and thermal production. The process is coupled to a Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell (SOEC) to generate Carbon Monoxide (CO) gas for the Water-Gas-Shift (WGS) reaction to remove the water produced from CO₂ hydrogenation. With the produce water continuously removed from the reaction chamber, the Methanol production can be continued at low pressure and temperature (1 bar, < 400 ⁰C).

The prescribed IES would be coupled to a High-Temperature-Steam-Electrolysis (HTES) system or Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell (SOEC) Stacks for hydrogen and oxygen production for use in the Carbon Dioxide hydrogenation process. The CO₂ required in this process is re-generated within the Carbon Dioxide capturing process of the Direct-Air-Capture (DAC) system. Figure 1 shows the setup and the coupling of the NuScale VOYGR NPP to all the subsystems and components for the production of Green Methanol and the subsequent Synthetic Fuels. The following is a listing of the functions of the subsystems and the intermediate materials that are needed for the entire production process.

• HTSE or SOEC System – Hydrogen and Oxygen Production
• Direct Air Capture (Direct Air Capture) – Carbon Dioxide (CO2) from the Atmosphere
• Reverse Osmosis (RO) water Treatment – Clean water into steam generator to produce steam
• Steam Generator – High quality steam into HTSE for Hydrogen production
• Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cell (SOEC) – convert CO₂ to Carbon Monoxide (CO)

Hydrogen Production - NuScale performed a study with Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and has teamed up with technology companies to investigate in using NuScale VOYGR NNP for the production of Hydrogen and Oxygen via the HTSE or SOEC technologies (Ref 1 and 2).

DAC – NuScale has been involved in the investigation and assessments of capturing Carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere using the liquid sorbent technology. Typical liquid sorbent (Ref 3) is to re-generate the captured CO2 for sequestration. NuScale has been researching the re-use of the captured CO2 for the re-production of useful chemicals.

RO Water Treatment – NuScale internal research has demonstrated that RO technology when coupled with NuScale VOYGR NNP generate the smallest carbon footprints (g-CO₂ per m³ of clean water) when compare to other energy sources including renewable and hydropower.

SOEC CO Generation - The utilization of a SOEC to produce Carbon Monoxide from Carbon Dioxide was patented in March 2013 by a team of Danish researchers from Haldor Topsoe in Lyngby, Demark (Ref 4). It describes a process that CO₂ is fed into the fuel side of the SOEC stack with an applied current. On the anode side, purge gas is fed into the stack to enhance the electrolysis process. The output stream from the cathode side of the SOEC stack contains a mixture of CO and CO₂. Figure 2 depicts the SOEC setup reproduced from the published patent.

Methanol production - At present, most methanol comes from the catalytic conversion of synthesis gas (syngas) that is usually generated by steam reforming of natural gas. The syngas, a mixture of hydrogen, CO, and CO₂ is converted into methanol on copper and zinc oxide (Cu/ZnO)-based catalysts at temperatures of 200–300 ⁰C and pressures of 50–100 bar. Steam reforming of natural gas produces copious amount of Carbon Dioxide. Methanol can also be produced by directly hydrogenating pure CO₂ with H₂ with high selectivity on conventional Cu/ZnO-based catalysts. The reaction rates are much lower than with syngas feeds because of thermodynamic limitations. This synthesis from pure CO₂ is also complicated because of the increased water formation. In the absence of CO, water is produced both as the by-product of CO₂ hydrogenation. The increased formation of water leads to kinetic inhibition and accelerated deactivation of the Cu/ZnO catalysts. Therefore, the solution is to introduce Carbon Monoxide into the reaction chamber to remove the water via the Water-Gas-Shift (WGS) reaction so that the production of Methanol can be continued. Figure 3 shows the reaction equations and the effects of the WGS reactions.

Synthetic Fuels and Chemical Production via Methanol – Methanol as a chemical feedstock for the production of synthetic fuels and chemical products have been studies and widely industrialized globally. Its utilizations are recognized especially for one carbon (C1) based chemical economy. Using steam reforming of natural gas for its production also is recognized as a major drawback due to high greenhouse gas emission. Therefore, Green Methanol production by the NuScale VOYGR NPP methodology can achieve carbon free production for industrial deployments. Figure 4 shows the pathways of Methanol for the production of synthetic fuel and chemical products.

NuScale Power Corporation is the industry-leading provider of proprietary and innovative advanced small modular reactor nuclear technology. It delivers scalable, and reliable carbon-free energy. NuScale VOYGR Small Modular Reactor Power Plant system’s modularity and flexibility is uniquely qualified to support desalination operations, especially for large-scale production systems. NuScale VOYGR™ SMR plants are powered by the NuScale Power Module™—each a small, safe, pressurized water reactor that can generate 77 megawatts of electricity (MWe) or 250 megawatts thermal (gross), and can be scaled to meet operational needs through an array of flexible configurations up to 924 MWe (12 modules) of output. All the prescribed operations of collecting, processing, concentrating, and ultimately delivering clean water to homes and industries demand a huge quantity of electricity, steam, and thermal energy. The VOYGR SMR plant multi-module configuration layout (4-12 SMRs) is shown in Figure 5.

The NuScale SMR is the only small modular reactor to have its design certified by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and published in the Federal Register on 3^rd February 2023 (Ref 5). NuScale is well-positioned to serve diverse customers across the world by supplying nuclear energy for electrical generation, district heating, desalination, commercial-scale hydrogen production, and other process heat applications. Figure 6 shows a detailed NuScale VOYGR Plant Site layout.

References

• Idaho National Lab Report, INL/LTD 14-31039, February 2014 (Limited Distribution)
• Idaho National Lab Report, INL/EXT-19-55395 Rev.1, September 2019
• http://carbonengineering.com/company-profile/
• WO2014154253A1;https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/49/4b/68/f02e6bfbde9aed/WO2014154253A1.pdf1)WO2014154253A1
• https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/01/19/2023-00729/nuscale-small-modular-reactor-design-certification