Steel converter slag as an oxygen carrier for chemical-looping gasification

Abstract

Chemical Looping Gasification (CLG) is a dual fluidized bed gasification technique where an oxygen carrier is used as bed material instead of sand. An optimized process could have several advantages, including i) one concentrated CO2 stream, amiable for carbon capture, ii) less tar formation, iii) additional reaction pathways for syngas production, iv) less corrosion and v) CO2 is generated in one stream from the fuel reactor that could be captured.Steel converter slag, also called LD slag, is a by-product from the steel industry which, besides iron, contains significant fractions of Ca, Mg, Al and Mn in a complex matrix of phases. The low cost and presence of known catalytic solid phases in the slag makes it interesting as an oxygen carrier in CLG.In this work, LD slag was investigated using a batch reactor with gaseous and solid fuel as well as with TGA. It was found that during gasification with LD slag, the material can i) transfer oxygen to the fuel, ii) catalyze the water-gas-shift reaction, iii) react with CO2 forming carbonates and iv) split water to hydrogen. The overall result was a raw gas with a higher H2/CO ratio for LD slag than the other tested materials.