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，安大略省的电力盈余来自低碳来源（每一个供电近200万辆）。在此盈余中，限制了7个TWH（即浪费），其余的价格低于总生产成本。 2018年，魁北克同样削减了10个TWH的清洁能力。更好地利用加拿大清洁电力的一种方法是增加存储容量，但是存储容量昂贵，并且具有较大的环境足迹。该提案中探索的另一种替代方法是将多余的清洁能与核电站的丰富废料结合使用，从空气中捕获二氧化碳（CO2），并将其转化为乙醇，甲基烷醇和最终较长链的产品，例如乙醇，甲醇，最终。这些碳氢化合物可用作化学工业的原料代替石油产品。这种转化需要热量和电力，因此使用盈余功率是使这种碳捕获和价值（CCV）过程经济可行的有前途的方法。我们的研究团队将将国家规模存储与CCV进行比较，并使用技术经济分析（TEA）和生命周期评估（LCA）工具探索权衡取舍。 TEA和LCA将以迭代方式使用，以评估从核电站中恢复热量并与CCV系统整合的方法。串联，我们将研究和优化电化学过程，从核产生的蒸汽和剩余电气中产生碳氢化合物。最后，我们将研究碳氢化合物生产过程中可能发生的材料降解机制。我们工作的结果将为我们的茶和LCA模型提供鉴定最佳解决方案，并提出实施这些技术的政策选择。这项跨学科研究将与加拿大核工业利益相关者合作进行，这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去碳化力网格和行业，并购买更多活跃的碳捕获策略，因此该项目将及时分析以指导清洁能源开发并加强加拿大的气候计划。