Reformer and membrane modules plant powered by a nuclear reactor or by a solar heated molten salts: Assessment of the design variables and production cost evaluation

The application of hydrogen selective membranes in steam reforming plants may play an important role in converting natural gas or heavy hydrocarbons into hydrogen in a very efficient way. Providing the reaction heat by sources as solar heated molten salts or a fluid heated in a nuclear reactor may further increase the overall energy efficiency of the system and pave the way for producing large amount of hydrogen with minimum environmental impact. The new architecture proposed in this paper consists of a heat exchanger where air is heated up by molten salts or other fluids as helium, a post-combustion chamber, a reforming-membrane system based on three reaction/separation steps, a retentate recirculator, a hydrogen cooler and compressor, and a final PSA.The integration of reforming and membrane modules technology within a nuclear power station or coupled with a solar molten salts' system makes the production of hydrogen a 10% less expensive than in the case of the conventional steam reforming and reduces the overall CO2 production of 28%.