SUMMARY Issues related to equipment scale‐up and process simulation are described for a thermochemical cycle driven by nuclear heat from Canada's proposed Generation IV reactor (Super‐Critical Water‐Cooled Reactor; SCWR), which is a CANDU derivative using supercritical water cooling. The copper–chlorine (Cu‐Cl) cycle has been identified by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited as the most promising cycle for thermochemical hydrogen production with SCWR. Water is decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen through intermediate Cu‐Cl compounds. This article outlines the challenges and design issues of hydrogen production with a Cu‐Cl cycle coupled to Canada's nuclear reactors. The processes are simulated using the Aspen Plus process simulation code, allowing the cycle efficiency and possible efficiency improvements to be examined. The results are useful to assist the development of a lab‐scale cycle demonstration, which is currently being undertaken at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in collaboration with numerous partners. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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The kinetic behavior of NO reduction by CO over a Pt/Al2O3 catalyst has been investigated in the temperature range of 465−520 K. The NO + CO reaction exhibits isothermal steady-state multiplicity. A high-conversion steady state was obtained starting with a net oxidizing feed composition ([NO]0 > [CO]0), and a low-conversion steady state was obtained for a net reducing initial feed composition ([NO]0 < [CO]0). A significant amount of N2O was observed as a reaction product, particularly for the high-conversion steady states. The selectivity toward N2O decreased with increasing NO conversion. For the high-conversion steady states, the N2O selectivity decreased rapidly with a decrease in the feed [NO]0/[CO]0 ratio below a critical value of 1.5. The N2O + CO reaction was found to occur to a significant extent. The steady-state bifurcation behavior has been used to discriminate among three kinetic models.