Converting ethane to syngas via chemical looping dry reforming with LaFeO3 perovskite oxygen carrier

Abstract

Chemical looping dry reforming (CLDR) is a potential technology to achieve the dual purposes of the syngas production and CO2 utilization. In this work, the LaFeO3 perovskite with an ordered porous structure is synthesized via the sol-gel method, which is used as an oxygen carrier (OC) for the CLDR process of ethane. The OC performance and the CLDR characteristics are comprehensively investigated in a fixed-bed reactor. The effects of temperature and weight hourly space velocity (WHSV) on the conversion of ethane and the stability of the oxygen carrier are examined. The results show that ethane can be efficiently converted to syngas (H2 and CO) by the LaFeO3 OC. Meanwhile, the reduced LaFeO3 OC is oxidized to replenish its lattice oxygen and the deposited carbon on the oxygen carrier can be effectively removed by CO2. The highest C2H6 conversion, CO yield and CO selectivity are 91.15%, 54.84% and 60.16%, respectively, at 800 °C and 12,000 L/(kg·h). During 20 redox cycles, the C2H6 conversion, the CO selectivity and the hydrogen‑carbon ratio (~1.5) remain stable for this kind of the perovskite oxygen carrier.