Simulation of chemical looping combustion process in a double looping fluidized bed reactor with cu‐based oxygen carriers

Abstract

Chemical looping combustion (CLC) is an attractive technology that produces a pure CO2 stream and therefore the CO2 can be readily recovered by condensing water vapour. In order to understand the physical phenomena and to explore the chemical process performance of the CLC process, a CFD model has been developed. The model is implemented numerically in an in-house code including the kinetic theory of granular flow and reaction models. Methane is used as fuel and CuO is chosen as oxygen carrier. This process is configured with an air reactor and a fuel reactor. The two reactors are simulated by a sequential approach. The connection between the two reactors is realized through time-dependent inlet and outlet boundary conditions. The widely used drag models were selected to examine their effects on the flow behaviour. The results indicating that the cluster effect in the FR is higher than in the AR. The frequency factor in the reaction model was varied to fit with the experimental measurements. The predicted result with the frequency factor of 1:35 X 10 m3 gives a reasonable prediction in comparison to the experimental data.