Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.59, No.41, 18447-18459, 2020
CO2 Capture from Biomass Gasification Producer Gas Using a Novel Calcium and Iron-Based Sorbent through Carbonation-Calcination Looping
In this study, a novel sorbent material based on CaO and Fe2O3 was investigated for its performance in CO2 capture from simulated biomass gasification producer gas. Experiments were conducted in a fixed bed reactor and each run of the experiments included three major stages of sorbent material reduction, CO2 capture (carbonation), and CO2 release (calcination). The operation temperature in the CO2 capture stage was controlled at 590, 620, 650, and 680 degrees C, while the temperature for the CO2 release was maintained at 850 degrees C. The duration of the CO2 capture stage was 3 h and that of the CO2 release stage was 2 h. The effect of cycles of carbonation-calcination looping of the sorbent material was also investigated at the carbonation temperature of 650 degrees C. The experimental results show that effective CO2 capture by the sorbent material occurred in the initial 20 min during the carbonation. In the calcination stage, the rate of CO2 release reached the peak in 30-40 min from the start of the calcination. The carbonation temperature has a significant effect on CO2 capture and the optimum carbonation temperature was found to be 620 degrees C, at which CO2 capture efficiency was 94% for the first cycle and 90.4% as average for the first three cycles. It was also found that the CO2 capture efficiency was reduced with cycling. Mechanisms of the CO2 capture and the effect of cycling were also examined.