Steam, dry, and steam-dry chemical looping reforming of diesel fuel in a 1 kWth unit

•Syngas production using autothermal chemical looping reforming (CLR) of liquid fossil fuels.•Steam, dry and steam-dry reforming is accomplished.•>20 h of continuous operation in a 1 kWth CLR unit.•Any H2/CO molar ratio between 0.2 and 3 achieved for H2 production or Fischer-Tropsch reactions.•Pure N2 is obtained in the AR, useful for NH3 production.

Chemical looping reforming (CLR) is a process that enables the production of syngas/H2 with CO2 capture by using oxygen carriers that prevent direct contact between the fuel and air. This work presents the experimental results obtained in a 1 kWth CLR unit using a Ni-based oxygen carrier and diesel as fuel, as a first trial for further advancement with heavier liquid fuels. The influence of the main operating conditions, such as oxygen-to-diesel molar ratio and the H2O and/or CO2 feed into the system, was analysed in both steam and dry CLR processes. In addition, the combined steam-dry CLR process enabled the production of syngas with any H2/CO molar ratio between 0.2 and 3, which resulted in a wide variety of final products during its use in Fischer-Tropsch processes. In all cases, the syngas composition was close to that given by the thermodynamic equilibrium. These results demonstrate the technical feasibility of steam, dry, and combined steam-dry reforming processes for liquid fossil fuels in a chemical looping system.

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