Chemical looping with air separation (CLAS) in a moving bed reactor with CuO/ZrO2 oxygen carriers

Zirconia supported CuO oxygen carriers were prepared for carrying out chemical looping with oxygen uncoupling (CLOU) and chemical looping with air separation (CLAS) operation in a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), a fixed bed reactor and a moving bed reactor (MBR). In this study, graphite used as solid fuel for CLOU with CuO/ZrO2 oxygen carriers was also explored in a fixed bed reactor. 40 wt.% CuO/ZrO2 particles sintered at 1000 °C revealed reasonable reactivity without noticeable agglomeration as observed. For fixed bed operation, time required for graphite combustion with CuO/ZrO2 was decreased for experiments conducted at higher reaction temperatures. For experiments carried out in the moving bed reactor, the oxygen concentration and oxygen molar flow rate in the outlet stream can be adjusted by varying operating temperatures, CuO/ZrO2 flow rate, and carrier gas (N2) flow rate. Therefore, moving bed reactors are technically feasible to serve as fuel reactor for chemical looping with air separation.