Investigations into the effects of volatile biomass tar on the performance of Fe-based CLC oxygen carrier materials

Boot-Handford, ME; Florin, N; Fennell, PS

Investigations into the effects of volatile biomass tar on the performance of Fe-based CLC oxygen carrier materials

Boot-Handford, ME Florin, N

Fennell, PS

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Environmental Research Letters, 2016, 11 (11)
Issue Date:: 2016-10-25

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Boot-Handford, ME	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Florin, N https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8436-4711	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Fennell, PS	en_US
dc.date.issued	2016-10-25	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Environmental Research Letters, 2016, 11 (11)	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1748-9318	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/130115
dc.description.abstract	© 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd. In this study we present findings from investigations into interactions between biomass tar and two iron based oxygen carrier materials (OCMs) designed for chemical-looping applications: a 100% Fe2O3 (100Fe) OCM and a 60 wt% Fe2O3/40 wt% Al2O3 (60Fe40Al) OCM. A novel 6 kWe two-stage, fixed-bed reactor was designed and constructed to simulate a chemical-looping combustion (CLC) process with ex situ gasification of biomass. Beech wood was pyrolysed in the first stage of the reactor at 773 K to produce a tar-containing fuel gas that was used to reduce the OCM loaded into the 2nd stage at 973 K. The presence of either OCM was found to significantly reduce the amount of biomass tars exiting the reactor by up to 71 wt% compared with analogous experiments in which the biomass tar compounds were exposed to an inert bed of sand. The tar cracking effect of the 60Fe40Al OCM was slightly greater than the 100Fe OCM although the reduction in the tar yield was roughly equivalent to the increase in carbon deposition observed for the 60Fe40Al OCM compared with the 100Fe OCM. In both cases, the tar cracking effect of the OCMs appeared to be independent of the oxidation state in which the OCM was exposed to the volatile biomass pyrolysis products (i.e. Fe2O3 or Fe3O4). Exposing the pyrolysis vapours to the OCMs in their oxidised (Fe2O3) form favoured the production of CO2. The production of CO was favoured when the OCMs were in their reduced (Fe3O4) form. Carbon deposition was removed in the subsequent oxidation phase with no obvious deleterious effects on the reactivity in subsequent CLC cycles with reduction by 3 mol% CO.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Environmental Research Letters	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1088/1748-9326/11/11/115001	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences	en_US
dc.title	Investigations into the effects of volatile biomass tar on the performance of Fe-based CLC oxygen carrier materials	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	11	en_US
utslib.for	MD Multidisciplinary	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/DVC (Research)
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/DVC (Research)/Institute For Sustainable Futures
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - ISF - Institute for Sustainable Futures
utslib.copyright.status	open_access
pubs.issue	11	en_US
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US
pubs.volume	11	en_US

Abstract:

© 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd. In this study we present findings from investigations into interactions between biomass tar and two iron based oxygen carrier materials (OCMs) designed for chemical-looping applications: a 100% Fe2O3 (100Fe) OCM and a 60 wt% Fe2O3/40 wt% Al2O3 (60Fe40Al) OCM. A novel 6 kWe two-stage, fixed-bed reactor was designed and constructed to simulate a chemical-looping combustion (CLC) process with ex situ gasification of biomass. Beech wood was pyrolysed in the first stage of the reactor at 773 K to produce a tar-containing fuel gas that was used to reduce the OCM loaded into the 2nd stage at 973 K. The presence of either OCM was found to significantly reduce the amount of biomass tars exiting the reactor by up to 71 wt% compared with analogous experiments in which the biomass tar compounds were exposed to an inert bed of sand. The tar cracking effect of the 60Fe40Al OCM was slightly greater than the 100Fe OCM although the reduction in the tar yield was roughly equivalent to the increase in carbon deposition observed for the 60Fe40Al OCM compared with the 100Fe OCM. In both cases, the tar cracking effect of the OCMs appeared to be independent of the oxidation state in which the OCM was exposed to the volatile biomass pyrolysis products (i.e. Fe2O3 or Fe3O4). Exposing the pyrolysis vapours to the OCMs in their oxidised (Fe2O3) form favoured the production of CO2. The production of CO was favoured when the OCMs were in their reduced (Fe3O4) form. Carbon deposition was removed in the subsequent oxidation phase with no obvious deleterious effects on the reactivity in subsequent CLC cycles with reduction by 3 mol% CO.

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