Comparison of Bimetallic Fe-Cu and Fe-Ca Oxygen Carriers for Biomass Gasification

Beatrice Muriungi, Lijun Wang and Abolghasem Shahbazi
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Beatrice Muriungi: Department of Chemical, Biological, and Bioengineering, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, 1601 East Market Street, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA
Lijun Wang: Department of Chemical, Biological, and Bioengineering, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, 1601 East Market Street, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA
Abolghasem Shahbazi: Department of Chemical, Biological, and Bioengineering, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, 1601 East Market Street, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 8, 1-11

Abstract: Two bimetallic Fe-Cu and Fe-Ca oxygen carriers were studied for chemical looping gasification (CLG) of biomass. The SEM results indicated that there was no obvious agglomeration on the bimetallic Fe-Cu oxygen carrier supported on Al 2 O 3 and Fe-Ca oxygen carrier after five redox cycles while agglomeration occurred on CuO supported on Al 2 O 3 due to the low melting point of CuO. The XRD results indicated the presence of copper-ferrite and calcium-ferrite phases in the bimetallic materials. The two bimetallic oxygen carriers can be re-oxidized with air to form a crystalline that is similar to the fresh materials. The Fe-Ca oxide became active at 360 °C which was lower than 380 °C for the Fe-Cu oxygen carrier. The high thermal stability and redox reactivity of bimetallic Fe-Cu and Fe-Ca oxygen carriers make the bimetallic oxygen carriers more suitable for recycling during CLG. The method for preparing Fe-Cu oxygen carriers had no significant impact on biomass conversion efficiency but had significant effect on the quality of syngas. Proper control of the biomass/oxygen carrier mass ratio is critical to achieve high selectivity towards gasification instead of combustion. The Fe-Ca oxygen carrier could achieve higher selectivity towards gasification than the Fe-Cu oxygen carrier.

Keywords: chemical looping; gasification; bimetallic oxygen carrier; biomass; metal oxide (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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