HCl removal using cycled carbide slag from calcium looping cycles

Abstract

The carbide slag is an industrial waste from chlor-alkali plants, which can be used to capture CO2 in the calcium looping cycles, i.e. carbonation/calcination cycles. In this work, the cycled carbide slag from the calcium looping cycles for CO2 capture was proposed to remove HCl in the flue gas from the biomass-fired and RDFs-fired boilers. The effects of chlorination temperature, HCl concentration, particle size, presence of CO2, presence of O2, cycle number and CO2 capture conditions in calcium looping cycles on the HCl removal behavior of the carbide slag experienced carbonation/calcination cycles were investigated in a triple fixed-bed reactor. The chlorination product of the cycled carbide slag from the calcium looping after absorbing HCl is not CaCl2 but CaClOH. The optimum temperature for HCl removal of the cycled carbide slag from the carbonation/calcination cycles is 700°C. The chlorination conversion of the cycled carbide slag increases with increasing the HCl concentration. The cycled carbide slag with larger particle size exhibits a lower chlorination conversion. The presence of CO2 decreases the chlorination conversions of the cycled carbide slag and the presence of O2 has a trifling impact. The chlorination conversion of the carbide slag experienced 1 carbonation/calcination cycle is higher than that of the uncycled calcined sorbent. As the number of carbonation/calcination cycles increases from 1 to 50, the chlorination conversion of carbide slag drops gradually. The high calcination temperature and high CO2 concentration in the calcination of calcium looping decrease the chlorination conversions of the cycled carbide slag. Increasing the calcination time in the calcium looping is adverse to HCl removal and extending the carbonation time slightly improves the chlorination conversions. The microstructure of the cycled carbide slag shows an important effect on HCl removal capacity.