Progress in an oxygen-carrier reaction kinetics experiment for rotary-bed chemical looping combustion

Abstract

The design process for an experimental platform measuring reaction kinetics in a chemical looping combustion (CLC) process is documented and justified. To enable an experiment designed to characterize the reaction kinetics of the reduction/oxidation cycle in a rotary channeled oxygen carrier, a platform was designed to deliver controlled conditions of temperature and gas flow around a central disc of oxygen-carrier material and determine the rates of oxidation and reduction using real-time gas analysis (RTGA). In order to deliver precise and accurate results, it was necessary to identify and either minimize or compensate for interfering factors such as gas turbulence, temperature fluctuation, and flow equipment response time delays. This paper serves as a progress report on the experimental reactor; the overall design process is discussed, including equipment selection, reactor design, electronics and control hardware setup, and software interface design, and the current state of the reactor is discussed, including an assessment of the current capabilities and drawbacks of the system, future work, and potential methods for improvement.