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Nuclear process heat can change the way energy is used by industry.

Industrial Energy

Petroleum, liquefied natural gas and natural gas constitute 99 percent of the energy supply for the chemical industry. The rising price of natural gas is a reason some chemical production has moved overseas. For example, by 2004, 50 percent of all methanol, 45 percent of all ammonia and 15 percent of all ethylene capacity were shut down in the U.S. ¹ Alternative options for the chemical industry under investigation include coal using gasification and liquifaction gasification and liquifaction, [Conventional water electrolysis is a well-commercialized technology. Carbon emission from this form of hydrogen generation depends upon the source of the electricity. Nuclear energy can be used to completely eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from the process.] biomass biomass, [Biomass is organic material made from plants and animals. Biomass contains stored energy from photosynthesis. The chemical energy in plants gets passed on to animals and people that eat them. Some examples of biomass fuels are wood, crops, manure, and some garbage. Wood waste or garbage can be burned to produce steam for making electricity or to provide heat to industries and homes. Biomass can be converted to other usable forms of energy like methane gas or transportation fuels like ethanol and biodiesel. Biomass fuels provide about 3 percent of the energy used in the United States.] unconventional natural gas unconventional natural gas, [Unconventional natural gas is gas that is more difficult, and less economically sound, to extract, usually because the technology to reach it has not been developed fully, or is too expensive.] unconventional oil derived from tar sands unconventional oil derived from tar sands [Tar sands are mixtures of bitumen heavy viscous oil (sand, water, and clay). With surface mining operations, the mixture is heated in large tanks until the sand and clay settle and the oil floats on the hot water to the top of the tank. There are also in-situ oil recovery methods that inject steam into underground deposits where the steam condenses, heats the tar sands, and allows the bitumen to flow to production wells. The bitumen is a solid at room temperature. Hydrogen must be added to bitumen to convert it to syncrude that that can be sent by pipeline to refineries to be converted into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. The process is extremely energy intensive.] and oil shale oil shale. [By using high temperature gas-cooled reactors to provide high-temperature heat to replace the electricity, energy loss in converting high-temperature heat to electricity that is then used to heat oil shale is avoided. The use of thermal energy rather than electricity has the potential to significantly reduce cost. An efficient heat transport system is required to heat the oil shale through a series of pipes.]

There are other organic compounds, such as ethanol from sugar fermentation, that are used primarily for fuels. In almost all chemical processes, large amounts of energy are used in the separation process. Under the right economic conditions, nuclear process heat becomes an attractive alternative to natural gas-derived process heat.