Chemical-Looping Combustion with Liquid Fuels

A project devoted to establishing chemical-looping combustion with liquid fuels currently being conducted by Chalmers University of Technology with support from Saudi Aramco is presented. The ultimate goal of the project is to develop technology capable of utilizing and processing heavy residual oils with inherent CO2 capture. Up to this point, a continuously operating reactor with the nominal effect 300 W has been designed, constructed, and successfully operated with nickel-, manganese-, copper- and iron-based oxygen-carrier particles using non-sulfurous and sulfurous kerosene as fuel. The results so far are very promising, and 99% conversion of fuel carbon to CO2 has been demonstrated with all four kinds of oxygen carrier materials. Chemical-looping reforming for synthesis gas production was also demonstrated using kerosene and the Ni-based oxygen carrier. Here, complete hydrocarbon conversion to CO and H2 was achieved. Future work includes design and construction of a larger 10 kW reactor system for direct combustion of heavier fuels such as fuel oil and heavy vacuum residues, as well as a techno- economic study. This paper provides an overview of the project and presents the main results and conclusions so far.