Carbon capture and valorisation using nuclear power: is it feasible?

利用核电进行碳捕获和增值：可行吗？

• 批准号: 577150-2022
• 负责人: Béland, LaurentKarimLK
• 金额: $ 35.75万
• 依托单位: Queen's University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Alliance Grants
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=759784
• 关键词: Carbon; capture; valorisation; using; nuclear

In 2020, Ontario had an electricity surplus of 17.2 TWh from low-carbon sources (enough to power nearly 2 million homes). Of this surplus, 7 TWh was curtailed (i.e. wasted), while the rest was exported at prices below the total cost of production. In 2018, Québec similarly curtailed 10 TWh of clean power. One way to make better use of Canada's clean electricity is to increase storage capacity, but storage capacity is expensive and has a sizeable environmental footprint. An alternative explored in this proposal is to use surplus clean energy in combination with the abundant waste heat of nuclear power plants to capture carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air and transform it into net-zero hydrocarbons like ethanol, methanol, and ultimately longer-chain products. These hydrocarbons can be used as feedstock for the chemical industry in lieu of petroleum products. This transformation requires heat and electricity, so using surplus power is a promising approach to make this carbon capture and valorisation (CCV) process economically viable. Our research team will compare national scale-storage to CCV, and explore the trade-offs involved using techno-economic analysis (TEA) and life cycle assessment (LCA) tools. TEA and LCA will be used in an iterative fashion to assess methods for heat recovery from nuclear power plants and integration with CCV systems. In tandem, we will study and optimize electrochemical processes to produce hydrocarbons from captured CO2 from nuclear-generated steam and surplus electricity. Finally, we will study the materials degradation mechanisms that may occur during production of the hydrocarbons; results of our work will feed our TEA and LCA models to identify optimal solutions and suggest policy options to implement these technologies. This interdisciplinary research will be done in collaboration with Canadian nuclear industry stakeholders, which will provide pertinent technical and market data. Given the urgent need for Canada to further de-carbonise its electricity grid and industry, and to pursue more active carbon capture strategies, this project will provide a timely analysis to guide clean energy development and strengthen Canada's climate plan.

2020年，安大略的低碳能源电力盈余为17.2 TWh（足以为近200万户家庭供电）。在这一盈余中，7太瓦时被削减（即浪费），而其余的则以低于总生产成本的价格出口。2018年，魁北克省同样削减了10 TWh的清洁电力。更好地利用加拿大清洁电力的一种方法是增加储能容量，但储能容量昂贵，而且对环境的影响也很大。该提案中探索的一种替代方案是利用剩余的清洁能源与核电站丰富的余热相结合，从空气中捕获二氧化碳（CO2），并将其转化为乙醇，甲醇等净零碳氢化合物，并最终长链产品。这些碳氢化合物可以代替石油产品用作化学工业的原料。这种转变需要热量和电力，因此使用剩余电力是一种有前途的方法，可以使这种碳捕获和稳定（CCV）过程在经济上可行。我们的研究团队将比较国家规模存储与CCV，并使用技术经济分析（TEA）和生命周期评估（LCA）工具探索所涉及的权衡。TEA和LCA将以迭代的方式用于评估核电厂的热回收方法以及与CCV系统的集成。同时，我们将研究和优化电化学过程，从核蒸汽和剩余电力中捕获的二氧化碳中生产碳氢化合物。最后，我们将研究在碳氢化合物生产过程中可能发生的材料降解机制;我们的工作结果将为我们的TEA和LCA模型提供支持，以确定最佳解决方案并提出实施这些技术的政策选择。这项跨学科的研究将与加拿大核工业的利益相关者合作进行，他们将提供相关的技术和市场数据。鉴于加拿大迫切需要进一步减少其电网和工业的碳排放，并采取更积极的碳捕获战略，该项目将提供及时的分析，以指导清洁能源的发展，并加强加拿大的气候计划。