Chemical-looping combustion of synthetic biomass-volatiles with manganese-ore oxygen carriers

Abstract

Carbon capture and storage of CO2 from combustion of biomass, i.e., bio-energy carbon capture and storage (BECCS), makes it possible to obtain so-called negative emissions – the atmosphere is cleansed from carbon dioxide. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the suitability of different manganese ores as oxygen carriers in chemical-looping combustion of biomass fuels. For this screening study, a laboratory-scale, circulating fluidized-bed CLC system with a nominal fuel input of 300 Wth was used. The primary focus was to investigate the reactivity of these oxygen carriers towards biomass fuels, and find a reactive oxygen carrier with sufficient mechanical stability that could be suitable for large-scale chemical-looping combustion of biomass. A synthetic “biomass volatiles” gas was used to study how the different gas components react with the oxygen-carrier particles. Additional experiments were conducted with methane and a syngas. Parameter studies concerning temperature and specific fuel-reactor bed mass (bed mass per fuel thermal power in kg/MWth) were carried out. With the synthetic biomass volatiles, conversion of fuel carbon to CO2 as high as 97.6% was achieved. For a majority of the investigated ores, essentially all C2 and C3 hydrocarbons were converted, as well as a very high fraction of the CO. Reactivity towards CH4 was generally lower, but improved at higher temperatures. The resistance of the oxygen carriers towards mechanical degradation was measured in a jet-cup attrition test rig. The measured attrition was estimated as “intermediate” for four of the five tested materials, while one of the ores displayed high attrition.