Nuclear to power greener petrochemical industry

NANJING — Construction on the nuclear power and heating plant in Xuwei, East China's Jiangsu province, began on Friday with concrete pouring, starting on the "nuclear island" — the heart of the power plant.

This is the world's first project to use nuclear energy to supply low-carbon steam for the petrochemical industry, significantly reducing the use of fossil fuels and providing an innovative solution for a green transformation in high-carbon industries, according to the developer China National Nuclear Corporation.

The project marks the first time that a pressurized water reactor and a high-temperature gascooled reactor have been coupled for steam heating. It integrates Hualong One, China's third-generation nuclear power technology, with advanced fourth-generation high-temperature gas-cooled reactor technology.

The project is designed to use the main steam from the pressurized water reactor of Hualong One to heat desalinated water, producing large quantities of saturated steam. This saturated steam will be superheated by the main steam from the high-temperature gascooled reactors, resulting in the production of high-quality industrial steam.

After all the heating processes, the majority of the industrial steam will be sent to the nearby petrochemical industrial base in Lianyungang. The project will also generate electricity.

Lianyungang's petrochemical industrial base is one of the country's major petrochemical hubs. To ensure its normal operation, a large amount of industrial steam is required in addition to petrochemical raw materials.

In the petrochemical industry, steam is mainly used for process heating and reaction driving.

Most petrochemical reactions, such as crude oil distillation, catalytic cracking, hydrotreating and esterification, require high-temperature conditions. Steam provides stable heat for the entire reaction system, ensuring efficient and controllable processes.

Steam is also used as a heat source in the fine separation of petrochemical products, allowing them to reach boiling points for gas-liquid separation or to remove impurities such as water, thereby improving purity.

Steam plays a vital role in the operation of power equipment such as steam turbines in petrochemical facilities, pipeline insulation and freeze protection, as well as in equipment cleaning.

Lianyungang's industrial base requires up to 13,000 metric tons of steam per hour. Daily steam production on such a scale has relied on fossil fuels such as coal, bringing growing environmental challenges as China intensifies efforts to reduce its carbon emissions.

This project will result in a significant cut in carbon emissions. The carbon footprint of nuclear-powered steam is only 1/600th that of coal-fired cogeneration steam, and 1 percent of that of natural gas cogeneration steam, according to industrial data.

CNNC said that two Hualong One units and one high-temperature gas-cooled reactor unit will be built in the first phase of the project. Once operational, the first phase will supply 32.5 million tons of industrial steam annually, with a maximum power generation exceeding 11.5 billion kilowatt-hours. It is expected to reduce the use of standard coal by 7.26 million tons per year and cut CO2 emissions by 19.6 million tons annually.

Xinhua