Countercurrent reactor design and flowsheet for iodine-sulfur thermochemical water splitting process

A conceptual design is presented for the I/S process for the production of hydrogen using a high-temperature nuclear heat source to split water. The process includes a countercurrent reactor being developed by CEA within the framework of an international collaboration (I-NERI project) with DOE at General Atomics (San Diego, CA). A ProsimPlus™ model of the flowsheet indicates 600 kJ high-temperature heat and 69 kJ electric power are consumed per mole of H2 product (with an assumed pressure of 120 bars). The net thermal efficiency would be 38% (HHV basis) if electric power is available at a conversion efficiency of 45%.