NiO/CaAl2O4 as active oxygen carrier for low temperature chemical looping applications

The implementation of CO2 capture systems in conventional processes has been proposed by the IPCC as an effective way to reduce anthropogenic CO2 emissions. However, these capture systems may represent an important decrease in the global efficiency for conventional processes. Chemical Looping has already been demonstrated as a promising technology for more efficient CO2 capture. Novel reactor concepts have been proposed in the literature, in which the reactions take place at lower temperatures with increased overall energy efficiency. However, few investigations have been carried out regarding the behaviour of oxygen carriers at relatively low operating temperatures. In this work, an active Ni-based oxygen carrier supported on CaAl2O4 inert material has been tested and characterized. The oxygen carrier has shown a promising behaviour for low temperature applications. However, it has been demonstrated that the oxygen carrier has to be pre-treated because of an interesting activation process which takes place only at high reduction temperatures. Oxygen carrier activation is caused by a reorganization of superficial nickel. Fresh oxygen carrier is covered by a layer of nickel with a strong interaction with the support. However, once the sample is reduced at high temperatures Ni is reorganized into small grains with reduced interaction with the support. This results in an enhancement in the reactivity and a higher oxygen transport capacity. After about 200 redox cycles, a small decrease in the solid conversion is observed due to agglomeration of the NiO grains. Nevertheless, the redox kinetics is still sufficiently fast for low temperature applications, provided that the oxygen carrier is pre-activated. The kinetics rates for the gas-solid reactions and gas-phase catalytic reactions have been determined, which can be used to predict the performance of the activated NiO/CaAl2O4 oxygen carrier for low temperature chemical looping applications.