Combining coal, natural gas, and nuclear heat for liquid fuels production with reduced CO2 emissions

In this work, the economic and environmental impact of integrating nuclear energy into a coal-and-gas-to-liquids process has been investigated. Reductions in CO2 emissions are possible because certain synergies can be exploited when coal, natural gas, and nuclear heat are used in combination, giving efficiency advantages which are unavailable when only a single energy source is used. Sixteen different design configurations are considered in this study, reflecting different design choices such as how to use or recycle light waste gases from the Fischer-Tropsch section, whether or not to integrate nuclear energy into the system, and also whether or not to include CO2 capture. Compared to a “traditional” coal-and-gas-to-liquids process, the results show that in some configurations CO2 emitted by the process can be reduced by over 99% with the use of nuclear heat by using the optional carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) option. However, even without CCS, the use of nuclear heat as a contributing energy source can reduce the CO2 emissions per gallon of gasoline and diesel produced by 17-42% from the equivalent non-nuclear-heat case. Total fossil fuel use can also be reduced by 12-21% (by higher heating value) per gallon produced.