Chemical-Looping Combustion and Chemical-Looping Reforming in a Circulating Fluidized-Bed Reactor Using Ni-Based Oxygen Carriers

Three oxygen carriers for chemical-looping combustion and chemical-looping reforming have been investigated in a small circulating fluidized-bed reactor. N2AM1400 was produced by freeze granulation with MgAl2O4 as a support material and had a NiO content of 20%. Ni18-αAl was produced by impregnation onto α-Al2O3 and had a NiO content of 18%. Ni21-γAl was produced by impregnation onto γ-Al2O3 and had a NiO content of 21%. Over 160 h of operation has been recorded. The conversion of natural gas into products was 96−100% depending on oxygen carrier and experimental conditions. For chemical-looping combustion, N2AM1400 and Ni21-γAl provided poor selectivity toward CO2 and H2O while Ni18-αAl initially showed very high selectivity, which declined as a function of time. For chemical-looping reforming, operating the reactor at the desired process parameters, which was a fuel reactor temperature of 950 °C and an air factor of 0.30, was possible with all of the tested oxygen-carrier materials. When only natural gas was used as fuel, there was significant formation of solid carbon in the fuel reactor for Ni18-αAl and Ni21-γAl. Adding 30% steam or CO2 to the fuel removed or decreased the carbon formation. During the course of the experiments, N2AM1400 and Ni18-αAl retained their physical and chemical structure, while Ni21-γAl displayed a significant reduction in porosity but remained highly reactive