Chemical Looping Combustion

Basics

• Often abbreviated as CLC
• A Combustion technology using metal oxides as the oxygen source, thus air never contacts the combustion chamber thus making the formation of nitrogen dioxides near impossible
• Assuming the fuel used is either pure carbon, or methane, there should be no heavy metals or hydrogen sulphide as well
• Uses a Fluidized Bed Reactor, and a Fluidized Bed Combustor / Fluidized Bed Gassifier
• This also lowers the total flue gas volume, and makes the composition near pure carbon dioxide and water vapor
• The water vapor can be condensed leaving near pure carbon dioxide
• RESEARCH NEEDED
  • The mechanism of transfer between fluidised beds
  • If NOx is produced and how much
  • If the oxygen can be diverted to devices such as a Gas Turbine for workflows with Fluidised Bed Gassification making syngas for a gas turbine
  • What oxides to use and if they need a substrate etc

Useful Links

• The Wikipedia Page on Chemical Looping Combustion
• AN Article on CLC this is aimed twards coal, and the website covers many non-renewable resources, so possible bias (although they do cover biomass and other renewables as well)
• A Research Paper on Carrier Oxide Development
• A Research Paper on CLC
• A A University of Iowa Article on the Subject