The adaptability of Cu/Zr oxides as oxygen carrier used for chemical looping air separation (CLAS)

Abstract

Chemical looping air separation (CLAS), based on the chemical looping principle, is a novel and energy-efficient method to separate oxygen from air. The oxygen carriers used capture oxygen from air in an oxidation reactor and release oxygen in a reduction reactor. In this work, the adaptability of Cu/Zr oxygen carrier used for CLAS was investigated through thermodynamic analysis and experimental methods. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used to measure the phases and surface morphology of oxygen carriers before and after experiments. The results show that CuO has the capability of releasing oxygen when the temperature is higher than 725 °C in the nitrogen atmosphere, and the minimum oxygen reduction temperatures increase with the increasing of oxygen concentrations. The Cu/Zr oxygen carrier has high oxygen reduction and oxidation rates when temperature is higher than a certain values. For reduction, the value is about 860 °C. For oxidation, the value is about 500 °C. The reactivity of oxygen carrier increases significantly with the temperature increasing. On overall, reactivity of oxygen carrier has little difference under different particle sizes. The oxygen carrier exhibits a stable oxygen reduction and oxidation behavior during reduction–oxidation cycles. XRD patterns show that the main phases in reduced samples are Cu2O and ZrO2. The main phases in fresh and oxidized samples are CuO and ZrO2. SEM images show that the fresh and reacted oxygen carriers are porous. The surface of reacted samples is smoother than fresh samples and no agglomeration has been found.