Chemical Looping Combustion of Methane : A Technology Development View

Abstract EN

Methane is a reliable and an abundantly available energy source occurring in nature as natural gas, biogas, landfill gas, and so forth.

Clean energy generation using methane can be accomplished by using chemical looping combustion.

This theoretical study for chemical looping combustion of methane was done to consider some key technology development points to help the process engineer choose the right oxygen carrier and process conditions.

Combined maximum product (H2O + CO2) generation, weight of the oxygen carrier, net enthalpy of CLC process, byproduct formation, CO2 emission from the air reactor, and net energy obtainable per unit weight (gram) of oxygen carrier in chemical looping combustion can be important parameters for CLC operation.

Carbon formed in the fuel reactor was oxidised in the air reactor and that increased the net energy obtainable from the CLC process but resulted in CO2 emission from the air reactor.

Use of CaSO4 as oxygen carrier generated maximum energy (−5.3657 kJ, 800°C) per gram of oxygen carrier used in the CLC process and was found to be the best oxygen carrier for methane CLC.

Such a model study can be useful to identify the potential oxygen carriers for different fuel CLC systems.