Nanocomposite oxygen carriers for chemical looping combustion

FUEL 83

Tengfei Liu, LIT1@PITT.EDU1, Thomas Simonyi2, Tom Sanders, tjs12@pitt.edu1, Ranjani V. Siriwardane, ranjani.siriwardane@netl.doe.gov3, and G Veser, gveser@engr.pitt.edu4. (1) Chemical Engineering Department, University of Pittsburgh, 1249 Benedum Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, (2) Research Development Solutions, Morgantown, WV, (3) Separations & Fuel Processing Division, U.S. Dept. of Energy - National Energy Technology Laboratory, 3610 Collins Ferry Road, P.O. Box 880, Morgantown, WV 26507-0880, (4) Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, 1249 Benedum Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Chemical looping combustion (CLC) is an emerging ‘green’ technology for energy-production from fossil and renewable fuels. In CLC, a metal carrier circulates between two reactors, where it is first oxidized with air and then reduced in the combustion of a fuel. CLC thus allows for flame-less, NOx-free combustion without air separation, and produces sequestration-ready CO2-streams without significant energy penalty. However, CLC suffers from insufficient stability of the oxygen carrier and slow re-oxidation kinetics.

We report a significant step towards overcoming these hurdles based on novel nanocomposite carriers. Ni-based nanocomposites were synthesized, characterized, and evaluated in comparison with conventional Ni-carriers. The metal nanoparticles are embedded in a ceramic matrix, resulting in exceptional stability, highly reproducible oxidation-reduction cycles, and dramatically accelerated oxidation kinetics (up to two orders of magnitude).

Experimental results and the great potential of these novel carrier materials for clean energy applications will be discussed in detail in the presentation.

 

Green Chemistry for Fuel Synthesis and Processing
9:00 AM-12:10 PM, Monday, 11 September 2006 Palace -- California Parlor, Oral

Sci-Mix
8:00 PM-10:00 PM, Monday, 11 September 2006 Moscone Center -- Hall D, Sci-Mix

Division of Fuel Chemistry

The 232nd ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, September 10-14, 2006