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

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.

Developments in fluidized bed conversion of solid fuels

A summary is given on the development of fluidized bed conversion (combustion and gasification) of solid fuels. First, gasification is mentioned, following the line of development from the Winkler gasifier to recent designs. The combustors were initially bubbling beds, which were found unsuitable for combustion of coal because of various drawbacks, but they proved more useful for biomass where these drawbacks were absent. Instead, circulating fluidized bed boilers became the most important coal converters, whose design now is quite mature, and presently the increments in size and efficiency are the most important development tasks. The new modifications of these conversion devices are related to CO2 capture. Proposed methods with this purpose, involving fluidized bed, are single-reactor systems like oxy-fuel combustion, and dual-reactor systems, including also indirect biomass gasifiers.

Carbon Capture Using Amine-Impregnated Mesoporous Sorbent in Fixed and Bubbling Beds

Capture of carbon dioxide gas from a flue gas mixture (N2:CO2 = 80:20) using amine-impregnated mesoporous sorbent (NETL-32D) was investigated in a small scale batch unit at ambient temperature and pressure. The variation of local bed temperature at different axial location of the bed, pressure drop across the bed, time to carbon breakthrough and adsorption capacity as a function of moisture content, bed heights and flow rates under both fixed bed and bubbling bed conditions was reported. Further, a time difference between the time to reach the peak bed pressure drop and temperature from the carbon breakthrough was established. The present findings are designed to offer a valuable data set for validation of CFD models studying carbon capture devices.