Energy & Fuels, Vol.34, No.10, 12527-12534, 2020
Using Coal Coke for N-Sorption with an Al-based Nitrogen Carrier during Chemical Looping Ammonia Generation
Chemical looping ammonia generation (CLAG) is thought to be another method for clean utilization of fossil fuels, because fossil fuels can be thoroughly converted into chemical material, CO, and noncarbon fuel, NH3. Intensive studies have been conducted to increase the N-sorption/desorption performances by modifying the N-carrier with single structured carbons (graphite or carbon-black). However, what the N-sorption performances or kinetics of the N-carrier with the real coal coke (with complex structure) are is still not clear, the determination of which will be a big breakthrough for the chemical looping ammonia generation process with coal. In this paper, the N-sorption performance of Al-based nitrogen carrier (gamma-Al2O3) mixing with coal coke was investigated in detail. Results showed that the reactivity of different coal cokes increases in the order of anthracite, lignite, and bitumite due to the increase of disordered carbon content. In order to further increase the N-sorption performance of the N-carrier, the bitumite coke was prepared with the different pyrolysis conditions, including different heating rates, atmospheres, and temperatures, and it was found that the bitumite coke prepared under 700 degrees C with heating rate of 10 degrees C/min in CO2 was suitable for N-sorption reaction.