Pretreated residual biomasses in fluidized beds for chemical looping gasification: Analysis of devolatilization data by statistical tools

Chemical looping with oxygen uncoupling (CLOU) is a carbon capture technology that utilizes a metal oxide as an oxygen carrier to selectively separate oxygen from air and release gaseous O2 into a reactor where fuel, such as coal, is combusted. Previous research has addressed reactor design for CLOU systems, but little direct comparison between different reactor designs has been performed. This study utilizes Barracuda-VR® for comparison of two system configurations, one uses circulating fluidized beds (CFB) for both the air reactor (AR) and fuel reactor (FR) and another uses bubbling fluidized beds for both reactors. Initial validation of experimental and computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations was performed to show that basic trends are captured with the CFD code. The CFD simulations were then used to perform comparison of key performance parameters such as solids circulation rate and reactor residence time, pressure profiles in the reactors and loopseals, and particle velocities in different locations of the reactor as functions of total solids inventory and reactor gas flows. Using these simulation results, it was determined that the dual CFB system had larger range for solids circulation rate before choked flow was obtained. Both systems had similar particle velocities for the bottom 80% of particle mass, but the bubbling bed (BB) obtained higher particle velocities as compared to the circulating fluidized-bed FR, due to the transport riser. As a system, the results showed that the dual CFB configuration allowed better control over the range of parameters tested.

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The Effect of Thermal Treatment of Hematite Ore for Chemical Looping Combustion of Methane

Journal of Energy Resources Technology ◽

10.1115/1.4032018 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 138 (4) ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Ronald W. Breault ◽

Cory S. Yarrington ◽

Justin M. Weber

Keyword(s):

Fluidized Beds ◽

Previous Analysis ◽

Chemical Looping Combustion ◽

Chemical Looping ◽

Test Results ◽

Subsequent Reduction ◽

Cyclic Reduction ◽

Pretreatment Temperature ◽

Reduction And Oxidation ◽

Hematite Ore

For chemical looping processes to become an economically viable technology, an inexpensive carrier that can endure repeated reduction and oxidation cycles needs to be identified or developed. Unfortunately, the reduction of hematite ore with methane in both batch and fluidized beds has revealed that the performance (methane conversion) decreases with time. Previous analysis had shown that the grains within the particle grew with the net effect of reducing the surface area of the particles and thereby reducing the rate and net conversion for a fixed reduction time. To improve the lifespan of hematite ore, it is hypothesized that if the grain size could be stabilized, then the conversion could be stabilized. In this work, series of tests were conducted in an electrically heated fluidized bed. The hematite ore was first pretreated at a temperature higher than the subsequent reduction temperatures. After pretreatment, the hematite ore was subjected to a series of cyclic reduction/oxidation experiments. The results show that the ore can be stabilized for cycles at different conditions up to the pretreatment temperature without any degradation. Details of the pretreatment process and the test results will be presented.

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Devolatilization of Residual Biomasses for Chemical Looping Gasification in Fluidized Beds Made up of Oxygen-Carriers

Energies ◽

10.3390/en14020311 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 311

Author(s):

Andrea Di Giuliano ◽

Stefania Lucantonio ◽

Katia Gallucci

Keyword(s):

Fluidized Beds ◽

Oxygen Carrier ◽

Reaction Model ◽

Chemical Looping ◽

Oxygen Carriers ◽

First Order ◽

Fluidizing Agent ◽

Mitigate Climate Change ◽

Bubbling Beds ◽

Better Than

The chemical looping gasification of residual biomasses—operated in fluidized beds composed of oxygen-carriers—may allow the production of biofuels from syngas. This biomass-to-fuel chain can contribute to mitigate climate change, avoiding the accumulation of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. The ongoing European research project Horizon2020 CLARA (G.A. 817841) investigates wheat-straw-pellets (WSP) and raw-pine-forest-residue (RPR) pellets as feedstocks for chemical looping gasification. This work presents experimental results from devolatilizations of WSP and RPR, in bubbling beds made of three different oxygen-carriers or sand (inert reference), at 700, 800, 900 °C. Devolatilization is a key step of gasification, influencing syngas quality and quantity. Tests were performed at laboratory-scale, by a quartz reactor (fluidizing agent: N2). For each pellet, collected data allowed the quantification of released gases (H2, CO, CO2, CH4, hydrocarbons) and mass balances, to obtain gas yield (ηav), carbon conversion (χavC), H2/CO ratio (λav) and syngas composition. A simplified single-first order-reaction model was adopted to kinetically analyze experimental data. WSP performed as RPR; this is a good indication, considering that RPR is similar to commercial pellets. Temperature is the dominating parameter: at 900 °C, the highest quality and quantity of syngas was obtained (WSP: ηav = 0.035–0.042 molgas gbiomass−1, χavC = 73–83%, λav = 0.8–1.0); RPR: ηav = 0.036–0.041 molgas gbiomass−1, χavC = 67–71%, λav = 0.9–1.0), and oxygen-carries generally performed better than sand. The kinetic analysis suggested that the oxygen-carrier ilmenite ensured the fastest conversion of C and H atoms into gases, at tested conditions.

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