Nuclear Hydrogen Production in Saudi Arabia: Future and Opportunities

Abdullah A. AlZahrani

July 3, 2017

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University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Oshawa, Canada. Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

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Presentation Outline • Introduction (-An Overview -Electricity -Desalination -Hydrogen)

• Hydrogen Production (-Worldwide -Saudi Arabia)

• Saudi Nuclear Program

• Nuclear Hydrogen Production

• Electrolysis Technologies (A Case Study on SMART-Powered Electrolyzers)

• Cost of Electrolysis Hydrogen

• Conclusions

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Introduction: An Overview

Population (M) 31.7 Population growth rate (%) 2.54 Land area (sq km) 2,150,000 Population density (inhabitants/sq km)

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GDP per capita ($) 19,902 Climate arid & hot Crude oil reserve (M barrels) 266,455 Crude oil production (M barrel/day) 10.192,6 Crude oil export (M barrel/day) 7.463,4 Oil demand (M barrel/day) 3.209,8

Source: General Authority for Statistics (www.stats.gov.sa/en )

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Introduction: Electricity

• Electricity generation capacity is 55,718 MW with as maximum load of 60,828 MW.

• The desalination cogeneration plants produce 36,800,705 MWh

• The two largest uses of power are desalination and residential cooling.

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Mill

ion

(MW

)

Industrial Consumption Total Consumption Total Generation

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Introduction: Desalination

• The desalinated water demand is expected to double in the next 10 years.

• Nuclear plants are well-known as the best long-term base load sources.

• Economically, It is more profitable to sell oil and gas and utilize alternative resources such as nuclear for water desalination.

• Environmentally, nuclear option is expected to significantly reduce CO2 emission.

0200400600800

100012001400

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Mill

ion

cubi

c m

eter

s

Total Production of Desalinated Water

0

10

20

30

40

2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Mill

ion

(MW

H)

Electricity Generated by Desalination Plants (MWH)

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Introduction: Hydrogen

• Currently, the global annul hydrogen capacity is

about 0.1 GT.

• Most of this hydrogen is consumed on-site for

refineries, ammonia and metal production.

• Hydrogen demand is increasing at annual rate of

4-8% due to the increasing regulations on fuel

upgrading (desulfurization units) and the diverse

industries.

Data source: Idriss, H., M. Scott, and V. Subramani, 1 - Introduction to hydrogen and its properties, in Compendium of Hydrogen Energy. 2015, Woodhead Publishing: Oxford. p. 3-19.

53%

20%

7%

20%

Hydrogen Consumption by Process

Ammonia

Refinaries

Methanol

Others

48%

30%

18%

4%

Hydrogen Production by Source

Natural Gas

Oil and Naphtha

Coal

Electrolysis

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• In Saudi Arabia, significant amount of hydrogen is being produced to support

crude oil refineries in addition to many metal and petrochemical industries.

• For example, in 2014 Air Liquide started production at its $392 million hydrogen

site in Yanbu that has a capacity of 340,000 Nm3/h to support the processing of

400,000 b/d of heavy crude oil in Yasref refinery.

• SMR and Gasification operate mostly without CCS and produce significant

amount CO2, i.e. for each kg of H2 about 5.5 kg of CO2 is released.

Hydrogen in Saudi Arabia

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• To meet the hydrogen demand while maintaining the low CO2

emissions.

• Nuclear can power electrolysis and thermochemical to produce

hydrogen.

• Electrolysis Hydrogen high purity grade meets high-tech application.

• Hydrogen as long-term storage especially for surplus electricity.

• Hydrogen as a carbon-free fuel for fuel cell transportation.

Nuclear Hydrogen Production

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Saudi Nuclear Program

• Saudi Arabia plans to construct 16 nuclear power plants over the

next 20 years to produce 17 GWe of nuclear electricity by 2040 at a

total cost of $80 billion.

• In 2010 a royal decree stated: “The development of atomic energy is essential to

meet the Kingdom's growing requirements for energy to generate electricity, produce

desalinated water and reduce reliance on depleting hydrocarbon resources."

• The King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (K.A.CARE)

was formed.

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Saudi Nuclear Program

• In 2015, K.A.CARE signed contracts with Korea Atomic Energy

Research Institute (KAERI) to support their cooperation in developing

KAERI’s SMART reactors.

• In 2017, K.A.CARE singed an agreement with China to jointly

investigate the feasibility of constructing High Temperature Gas-

cooled Reactors (HTGRs) in Saudi Arabia.

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SMART Reactor Full name System-Integrated Modular

Advanced Reactor Reactor type Integral Type Reactor Coolant Light Water Moderator Light water Neutron spectrum Thermal Neutrons Thermal capacity 330.00 MW Electrical capacity 100.00 MW Power output, net 90.00 MW Steam Tem./Press. 298 ºC/5.2 MPa Plant efficiency 30.3 % Designers KAERI Plant design life 60 Years

Source: Keun Bae Park, SMART An Early Deployable Integral Reactor for Multi-purpose Applications. INPRO Dialogue Forum on Nuclear Energy Innovations10-14 October 2011, Vienna, Austria

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Electrolysis Technologies

Technology Alkaline large-scale

Alkaline high-pressure

Advanced Alkaline

PEM SOE

Status Commercial Commercial Pre-commercial Pre-commercial Prototype

T (℃) 70 – 90 70 – 90 80 – 140 80 – 150 900 – 1000

P (bar) 1 – 25 Up to 690 Up to 120 Up to 400 Up to 30

kWh/kgH2 48 – 60 56 – 60 42 – 48 40 – 60 28 – 39

Proton exchange membrane electrolyzer

+-

H+

Cathode AnodeElectrolyte

O2-

OH-Alkaline

electrolyzer

Solid oxide electrolyzer

H2

H2

H2

O2

O2

O2

e-e-

H2O

H2O

Electrolyzer is an electrochemical device

uses electricity to split water to hydrogen

and oxygen. The three types of electrolyzers

are: Alkaline, PEM and Solid Oxide.

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Commercial Alkaline Electrolyzers Capacity A-150 A-300 A-485

Capacity range per unit 50 – 150 Nm3 H2/h 151 – 300 Nm3 H2/h

301 – 485 Nm3 H2/h

Production capacity dynamic range

20 – 100% of nominal flow rate

20 – 100% of nominal flow rate

20 – 100% of nominal flow rate

DC power consumption 3.8 – 4.4 kWh/Nm3 H2 3.8 – 4.4 kWh/Nm3 H2

3.8 – 4.4 kWh/Nm3 H2

H2 purity 99.9% ± 0.1 99.9% ± 0.1 99.9% ± 0.1 O2 purity 99.5% ± 0.2 99.5% ± 0.2 99.5% ± 0.2 H2 outlet pressure after electrolyzer

200 – 400 mm WG 200 – 400 mm WG 200 – 400 mm WG

H2 outlet pressure after compressor

Max 250 barg Max 250 barg Max 250 barg

Operating temperature 80 °C 80 °C 80 °C

Electrolyte 25% KOH aqueous solution

25% KOH aqueous solution

25% KOH aqueous solution

Feed water consumption 0.9 litre / Nm3 H2 0.9 litre / Nm3 H2 0.9 litre / Nm3 H2

A detailed specification of alkaline electrolyzers produced by Nel Hydrogen.

Data and Photos: http://nelhydrogen.com/product/electrolysers/

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Commercial PEM Electrolyzers

Type and specifications of PEM electrolyzers manufactured by Giner Inc.2

Model G5 Merrimack Allagach Kennebec H2 production (Nm3 h-1) 0.03 – 0.5 0.4 – 30 2 – 210 1,000 m3 h-1 Power consumption (kW) 0.1 – 3 2 – 160 8 – 1,000 5,000 H2 maximum pressure (bar) 20 40 15 – 4- n/a Operating temperature (℃) 70 70 70 n/a External dimensions (cm2) 15 × 15 40 × 40 80 × 80 n/a

Model G200 G400 G600 G66-HP Flow rate (cc/min) 200 400 600 600 Purity 99.9995% 99.9995% 99.9995% 99.99999% Output pressure 3 to 8 barg

Specifications of PEM electrolyzers provided by Proton Onsite1

1Data and Photos: http://www.protononsite.com/

2Data and Photos: http://www.ginerinc.com/

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Case Study: SMART-Powered Electrolyzer

• SMART can be to produce hydrogen through electrolyzer and desalination integration.

SMARTPWR

Sea WaterReturn Brine

Desalinated Water

ElectrolyzerUnit

90 MWe

40,000 t/day

End User

End User

H2

Steam Cycle

MED-TVC Unit

H2 Storage O2

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Case Study: SMART-Powered Electrolyzer

Considering the plant’s thermal power and net electricity output, the energetic and

exergetic efficiencies of hydrogen production can be defined as

𝜂𝜂𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 =𝑚𝑚𝐻𝐻2𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐸𝐸𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖(𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑡𝑡ℎ)

𝜂𝜂𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒 =𝑚𝑚𝐻𝐻2 𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒𝐻𝐻2

𝐶𝐶𝐻𝐻

𝐸𝐸𝑒𝑒𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖

𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿𝐿 = 141.88 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀/𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘 𝑒𝑒𝑥𝑥𝐿𝐿2𝐶𝐶𝐿𝐿 = 118.05 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀/𝑘𝑘𝑘𝑘 𝐸𝐸𝑖𝑖𝑒𝑒 = 330 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀 𝐸𝐸𝑥𝑥𝑖𝑖𝑒𝑒 = 158.07 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀

Electrolyzer 𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎 (𝒌𝒌𝒌𝒌/𝒉𝒉)

𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎𝒎 (𝒌𝒌𝒌𝒌/𝒉𝒉)

𝐦𝐦𝐇𝐇𝟐𝟐 𝒌𝒌𝒌𝒌/𝒔𝒔

𝑬𝑬𝒐𝒐𝒐𝒐𝒐𝒐 (𝑴𝑴𝑴𝑴)

𝑬𝑬𝒎𝒎𝒐𝒐𝒐𝒐𝒐𝒐 𝐌𝐌𝐌𝐌

𝜼𝜼𝒆𝒆𝒎𝒎 𝜼𝜼𝑒𝑒𝑒𝑒

Alkaline large-scale 1500.3 1872 0.468 66.45 55.29 20.1% 35% Alkaline high-pressure 1500.3 1611 0.432 61.31 51.01 18.6% 32.3% Advanced Alkaline 1872 2142 0.557 79.10 65.81 24% 41.6% PEM 1500.3 2250 0.520 73.90 61.49 22.4% 38.9% SOE 2304 3213 0.766 108.72 90.46 *33% *57.2%

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Cost of Electrolysis Hydrogen

• The current state-of-the-art low-temperature

electrolyzers (Alkaline and PEM) are achieving

hydrogen production costs of $3.00 - $3.32/kg H2.

• These rates are based on average electricity

costs of $0.045 - 0.053/kWh2.

17% 5% 1%

77%

Distribution of Electrolysis Hydrogen Cost

Capital Cost

O&M

Others

Electricity

• SMR is considered a “benchmarking technology” achieves $2.5/kg H2 without CCS1.

• Electrolyzers, the cost of hydrogen is considerably dependent on the cost of electricity

used in addition to the capital cost.

1Manage et al. A techno-economic appraisal of hydrogen generation and the case for solid oxide electrolyser cells. int. j of hydrogen energy. 2011;36(10):5782-96. 2Genovese et al. Current (2009) state of the art hydrogen production cost estimate using water electrolysis. NREL/BK-6A1-46676. 2009.

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Cost of Electrolysis Hydrogen

• In the case of high temperature solid oxide electrolyzer (SOE), High Temperature Gas-

cooled Water Reactor (HTGR) integrated with SOE and the product hydrogen cost was

an average of $3.23/kg H2 1.

• It was estimated that hydrogen compression, storage and handling cost an additional

$1.88 /kg H2.

• According to KAERI2 the Levelized Generation Cost (2007) is ~ 6.1 ¢/kWh. This would

reflect an approximate hydrogen production cost of less than $2.50/kg H2 (2017). 1Harvego et al. Economic Analysis of a Nuclear Reactor Powered High-Temperature Electrolysis Hydrogen Production Plant. ASME 2008 2nd International Conference on Energy Sustainability. 2Keun Bae Park, SMART An Early Deployable Integral Reactor for Multi-purpose Applications. INPRO Dialogue Forum on Nuclear Energy Innovations10-14 October 2011, Vienna, Austria.

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Conclusion

• Nuclear-powered electrolyzers are very promising technologies that can

replace current hydrocarbon-based methods.

• Hydrogen production can be utilized as clean energy storage.

• Overall plant’s hydrogen production efficiency of over 20% is achievable, in

addition to water desalination process.

• It is expected that nuclear electrolyzers will near-future be able to produce

hydrogen at a cost of less than $2.5/kg H2.

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Thank you Questions