(380o) Chemical Looping Partial Oxidation of Methane: The Impact of Particle Size of Hematite on Syngas Selectivity

Chemical looping partially oxidation (CLPO) of methane is one the most promising techniques to generate syngas. A major challenge of this process is the development of oxygen carriers that have high reactivity, selectivity, and recyclability.

In this research, the size effect of Fe2O3@SBA-15 was carefully studies. Samples with different Fe2O3 loading were synthesized by wet impregnation method and applied to generate syngas from methane. Samples with different nanoparticle distribution were also synthesized by adjusting the amount of surfactant. Techniques, including X-ray diffraction (XRD), N2 physisorption, transmission electronic microscope (TEM), scanning electronic microscope (SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), were used to characterized the material. Experiment results showed that nanoparticles embedded inside of the SBA-15 silica tubes have high reactivity and selectivity. Samples with Fe2O3 nanoparticles on the surface of silica support showed lower selectivity as well as worse recyclablility. The mechanism of Fe2O3@SBA-15 as a good performance oxygen carrier was also discussed. The diffusion limitation of mesoporous support can be attributed to the high selectivity of the Fe2O3@SBA-15.