On the development of novel reactor concepts for chemical looping combustion

The paper describes the development of a novel reactor concept for natural gas fueled chemical looping combustion (CLC). The reactor is best described as a rotating bed reactor in which a doughnut shaped fixed bed containing an oxygen carrier material is rotated between different sectors where air and methane are fed. The gases are fed radially outwards through the fixed bed. Between the air and methane sectors are sectors where an inert gas is fed to avoid uncontrolled mixing of air and methane. The rationale for the choice of reactor is discussed and a CuO/Al2O3 based oxygen carrier has been selected for the initial reactor evaluation. A major challenge with the proposed reactor setup is to avoid mixing between the air and methane side caused by the unavoidable insufficient sealing between the moving parts. Initial testing show that mixing is only partly avoided, and a degree of separation corresponding to around 80% is observed at ambient temperature for the first reactor prototype. Further work will be to improve the design in order to reduce gas mixing further and to demonstrate real CLC operation utilizing the reactor. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.