Gas reactor international cooperative program. HTR-synfuel application assessment

This study assesses the technical, environmental and economic factors affecting the application of the High Temperature Gas-Cooled Thermal Reactor (HTR) to: synthetic fuel production; and displacement of fossil fuels in other industrial and chemical processes. Synthetic fuel application considered include coal gasification, direct coal liquefaction, oil shale processing, and the upgrading of syncrude to motor fuel. A wide range of other industrial heat applications was also considered, with emphasis on the use of the closed-loop thermochemical energy pipeline to supply heat to dispersed industrial users. In this application syngas (H2 +CO2) is produced at the central station HTR by steam reforming and the gas is piped to individual methanators where typically 10000F steam is generated at the industrial user sites. The products of methanation (CH4 + H2O) are piped back to the reformer at the central station HTR