Estimation of H demand and HTGR development potential in the industrial complex in Japan

Noguchi, Hiroki  ; Ishii, Katsunori  ; Ono, Masato ; Kasahara, Seiji  ; Sato, Hiroyuki  ; Sakaba, Nariaki 

Achieving carbon neutrality in Japan in 2050, hydrogen is expected to be used as an alternative to fossil fuels in the hard-to-abate sectors. In steelmaking, hydrogen-based reduction process has been developed as a substitute for the conventional blast furnace steelmaking process, which involves the reduction of iron ore by coke. In chemical industry, a novel olefin production process has been developed using hydrogen and CO, through methanol as an intermediate chemical. A large amount of hydrogen is required for these novel processes. Nuclear energy is well-suited to large-scale low-carbon hydrogen production. High temperature gas cooled reactor (HTGR) is a type of nuclear reactor featuring extraction of high temperature heat. The heat can be applicable to hydrogen production. This study predicts hydrogen demand in five industrial complexes in Japan in 2050 and estimates the potential for introducing HTGR to meet the demand. The introduction of HTGR could be a promising solution for decarbonizing industrial complexes due to their large-scale hydrogen supply capacity.