High reactivity and mechanical durability of NiO/NiAl2O 4 and NiO/NiAl2O4/MgAl2O4 oxygen carrier particles used for more than 1000 h in a 10 kW CLC reactor

Journal article, 2009

Chemical-looping combustion (CLC) is a promising technology for CO 2 capture in the process of combustion of gaseous fossil fuels. Oxygen carrier materials based on Ni/NiO on NiAl2O4 and on NiAl2O4/MgAl2O4 support have previously shown high initial activity combined with high conversion of methane and low concentration of outgoing CO. The feasibility of the Ni/NiO system for CLC depends largely on the lifetime of the oxygen carrier particles in the reactor due to the high price of the material. Avoiding chemical and physical degradation of oxygen carriers is essential for long-term industrial-scale chemical-looping combustion operations, and the particles' activity and mechanical durability have to remain high during long operation times. In this study, a series of oxygen carrier samples were collected from a 10 kW CLC combustor operated for a total of 1016 h using oxygen carrier materials based on NiO/NiAl2O4 (N-VITO) for 405 h and a mixture of used NiO/NiAl2O4 with fresh NiO/NiAl2O 4/MgAl2O4(N-VITOMg) for 611 h, respectively. These samples were collected after certain time intervals and analyzed in terms of reactivity with methane in a quartz batch reactor. Also, the structural and mechanical properties of these samples were investigated by means of powder XRD, BET surface area measurements, light and scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry, and crushing strength evaluation. It was shown that both N-VITO and N-VITO/N-VITOMg demonstrate high reactivity and mechanical durability after having been used for more than 1000 h in the CLC 10 kW reactor, which makes them excellent candidates for applications within the area of chemical-looping combustion.