Modeling of a 120 kW chemical looping combustion reactor system using a Ni-based oxygen carrier

A modeling tool for the investigation of chemical looping combustion (CLC) in a dual circulating fluidized bed (DCFB) reactor system is introduced. CLC is a novel combustion process with inherent CO2CO2 separation, consisting of two fluidized bed reactors, an air reactor (AR) and a fuel reactor (FR). A solid oxygen carrier (OC) that circulates between the reactors, transports the necessary oxygen for the combustion. In the DCFB concept both AR and FR are designed as circulating fluidized beds (CFBs). Each CFB is modeled using a very simple structure in which the reacting gas is only in contact with a defined fraction of the well mixed solids. The solids distribution along the height axis is defined by a void fraction profile. Different parameters that characterize the gas–solids contact are merged into only one parameter: the fraction of solids exposed to the gas passing in plug flow (φs,coreφs,core). Using this model, the performance of the 120 kW DCFB chemical looping combustor at Vienna University of Technology is investigated. This pilot rig is designed for a Ni-based OC and natural gas as fuel. The influence of the reactor temperatures, solids circulation rate, air/fuel ratio and fuel power are determined. Furthermore, it is shown that with the applied kinetics data, the OC is only fully oxidized in the AR when the AR solids inventory is much larger than the FR solids inventory or when both reactors are very large. To compare different reactor systems, the effect of the solids distribution between AR and FR is studied and both gas and solids conversions are reported.