NUCLEAR SYNFUELS | SPECIAL REPORT


Left: The carbon requirements for nuclear synfuels makes biofuels production an ideal partner


comparison with the risks of a 1.5 degree increase in global average temperature.” He emphasises the relative impact on biodiversity, economic development, health and safety of a nuclear disaster in stark contrast to the impact of climate change. del Barrio all but dismisses the nuclear risks on that basis: “It’s a relatively local problem when compared with a super global problem for the population”. But alongside the political challenges, Forsberg highlights potential economic risks for nuclear synfuels given the volatility in oil prices. “The biggest barrier for any alternative hydrocarbon liquid fuel is actually the variability in the price of oil. At $100 a barrel, some of these nuclear systems will become economic, the problem is what happens if your plant goes online when the price of crude oil is $35 a barrel?” Forsberg argues that in order secure investment in a new method of producing liquid hydrocarbon fuels some constraints must be placed on fossil fuels such as enforcing a robust carbon price to artificially increase the consumer cost of fossil fuels or alternatively a guaranteed minimum price for low-carbon equivalents.


Hydrogen needs carbon Alongside hydrogen, the production of hydrocarbon synfuels also requires carbon. Carbon can come from various sources, including carbon capture from industrial processes or direct capture from the atmosphere. However, while direct capture raises the possibility of a circular carbon economy, del Barrio notes there are some technical issues that must be overcome: “ultimately where CO2


is


derived from the air the technology is still not commercially viable. That technology is a little bit far away and quite expensive.” Instead, he points to another readily available source of carbon – biomass and waste valorisation. “In order to make competitive synthetic fuel, we need two things, cheap CO2 and cheap hydrogen,” del Barrio explains,


adding: “From biomass or biomethane production, you can have large amounts of CO2


that can be captured and


that is renewable or biogenic carbon dioxide. The problem is that there is not enough biomass feed stock for all the transport sector, we need both nuclear synfuel and biofuel


to complement each other.” He goes on to suggest that using the CO2


from biofuels together with nuclear-produced


hydrogen could result in a symbiotic partnership with many benefits for both the industry and wider society: “We need the CO2


from biofuel production in order to produce the


synthetic fuels, they are working together to achieve the cheapest solution.” He envisages future refineries which use biomass as a


raw feed stock and which together with an on-site reactor becomes a major source of low carbon liquid fuels, some of which are biogenic in origin and others which are nuclear synfuels. While conventional biofuel production largely relies on


fermentation or anaerobic digestion, cellulosic biomass – made from non-food crops and waste such as corn waste, straw or wood – has traditionally been far more challenging as a biofuel feed stock. Forsberg says: “Currently most biofuels are from plant


oils, sugar and carbohydrates because it takes less refining to convert to liquid fuels. However, feedstock is limited and conflicts with food production.” He identifies the vast quantities of cheaply available cellulosic biomass as an alternative: “It is the only feedstock option if you require massive quantities of liquid hydrocarbon fuels. There are no other choices. The first few cellulosic biomass to bio-crude oil plants are beginning operations and the most important outcome of our work is that we really can replace crude oil. Reality is slowly sinking in”. He points to the potential role of nuclear in the use


of cellulosic biomass in synfuel production and argues cellulosic biomass is a valuable and scalable source of carbon. Cellulosic biofuels can replace all crude oil but only with massive heat and hydrogen inputs. There is insufficient feed stock if biomass is used as the carbon source for the biofuels and the energy source for the conversion process and to produce the necessary hydrogen. However, he envisages gradual deployment rather than a rapid distribution. “Development of a nuclear-assisted cellulosic biofuels world will be an evolutionary development. There will be no grand opening of a new nuclear-assisted biorefinery.”


www.neimagazine.com | December 2023 | 25


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