Development of Oxygen Transport Properties by Olivine and Feldspar in Industrial-Scale Dual Fluidized Bed Gasification of Woody Biomass

Journal article, 2021

In dual fluidized bed (DFB) gasification, the interaction of the bed material with the fuel ash leads to the development of a bed catalytic activity toward tar-abating reactions. However, the formation of ash layers may also be detrimental to the process, especially in terms of the uncontrolled transport of oxygen from the combustor to the gasifier. A few previous studies investigating the development of catalytic activity in bed materials have also reported the development of oxygen transport, although the latter was not the focus of these studies. This work verifies that olivine and feldspar, which are bed materials with limited and no intrinsic oxygen transport capacities, respectively, develop the capacity to transport oxygen by interacting with the fuel ash. We correlate this development in oxygen transport to the development of bed catalytic activity. Our results imply that the volatile species that are released by the bed material to the gas phase in the gasifier contribute to the developed oxygen transport. Sulfur is proposed as one of the components of these volatile species, and its potential contribution is investigated. For feldspar, the results support the notion that sulfur is involved in the transport of oxygen, both as a volatile species and as a species remaining within the ash layer. The results also suggest that other species, including volatile ones, are involved. These aspects are investigated based on experimental results obtained from the Chalmers gasifier - a semi-industrial-scale DFB gasifier - and are isolated in laboratory-scale experiments.