(562t) Operational Experience of 0.5 Mwth Pressurized Chemical Looping Combustion System for Inherent CO2 Separation | AIChE

(562t) Operational Experience of 0.5 Mwth Pressurized Chemical Looping Combustion System for Inherent CO2 Separation

Authors 

Lee, D. - Presenter, Korea Institute of Energy Research
Ryu, H. J., Korea Institute of Energy Research
Nam, H., Korea Institute of Energy Research
Jo, S. H., Korea Institute of Energy Research
Lee, S. Y., Korea Institute of Energy Research
Chemical looping combustion (CLC) is a promising technology for fossil fuel combustion with inherent CO2 capture and sequestration that is able to mitigate greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission. The CLC process employs metal oxide as an oxygen carrier circulating between fuel reactor, where the fuel is combusted to CO2 and H2O, and air reactor, where the oxygen carrier returned to its oxidized form by aeration. In Korea, KIER(Korean Institute of Energy Research) has been doing research on chemical looping combustion technology since 2000 and KIER and KEPCO RI(Korea Electric Power Research Institute) started a collaborative research from 2006 to develop chemical looping combustion process and oxygen carriers, respectively. We installed a 200 kWth chemical looping combustor and demonstrated long-term operation more than 100 hours using natural gas as fuel and Ni-based oxygen carrier in 2011. After that, we started new research project to develop a 0.5 MWth pressurized chemical looping combustor from 2015. In this project, our target is development of pressurized chemical looping combustor up to 5 bar-abs and achievement of high CO2 selectivity (> 98%) using natural gas and syngas as fuels. Thesedays, Continuous solid circulation test at high temperature and high pressure conditions and batch type reduction-oxidation tests were performed to check feasibility of a 0.5 MWth chemical looping combustion system. Pressure drop profiles were maintained stable during continuous solid circulation up to 16 hours. Therefore, we could conclude that the solid circulation between an air reactor and a fuel reactor could be smooth and stable. The measured fuel conversion and CO2 selectivity were high enough even at high capacity and even after cyclic tests. After that, continuous operation of the 0.5 MWth chemical looping combustor was performed using natural gas as fuel. In this presentation, the results and experiences will be discussed.