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Radically Engineered Modular Air Separation System with Tailored Oxygen Sorbents

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1862110· OSTI ID:1862110
 [1];  [2];  [2]
  1. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States); North Carolina State University
  2. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
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The commercial energy sector relies heavily on fossil fuel conversion, and in the process releases a significant amount of CO2. A promising technology to utilize fossil fuels with relatively affordable CO2 capture is gasification. However, it requires a pure oxygen stream. The current state of the art method to produce oxygen is cryogenic air separation, which supercools air to a liquid, and then using distillation columns to separate the components. While this method has been thoroughly studied, it only has a 25% efficiency from a second law standpoint and therefore requires a significant amount of energy (and associated emissions) for oxygen production. This, then, lowers the incentive for carbon capture within a plant, so alternative methods need to be investigated. One potential method, chemical looping air separation (CLAS), is a promising method to replace state of the art oxygen generation technologies. CLAS utilizes a cyclic redox scheme with an oxygen sorbent to create pure oxygen streams. This approach typically utilizes a dual reactor scheme where the oxygen deficient sorbent enters the first reactor and is subjected to high oxygen partial pressures to re-oxidize the sorbent. Then the sorbent is sent to the reducing reactor, where it is subjected to low oxygen partial pressure (steam or vacuum) to releases oxygen. The overarching objective of this project was to discover the principles for rational design and optimization of oxygen sorbents and process design to ensure the process is a viable replacement for cryogenic air separation, especially in the context of modular gasification systems. This was done through development, characterization, testing, and analyses of (a) high temperature mixed composite oxides; (b) low temperature doped perovskite oxides (A1xA21-xB1yB21-yO3); (c) scale up synthesis and testing of the optimized sorbent particles; (d) process design and analyses of the CLAS system in the context of modular gasification applications.

Research Organization:
North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
Contributing Organization:
Thermosolv LLC, West Virginia University
DOE Contract Number:
FE0031521
OSTI ID:
1862110
Report Number(s):
DOE-NCSU-FE0031521
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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air separation
gasification
oxygen sorbent
chemical looping