Incorporation of Oxygen Carrier Recycle into Large-Scale Production of Cu-Based Oxygen Carriers

Journal Article · Thu Dec 11 00:00:00 EST 2025 · Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.5c03758· OSTI ID:3010486

Hughey, Logan R. ^[1]; Whitty, Kevin J. ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)

One of the greatest challenges in the chemical looping combustion (CLC) of solid fuels is developing an oxygen carrier material that is reactive and attrition resistant and can be prepared at a reasonable cost. Recent efforts in oxygen carrier development have followed two primary approaches: (1) using natural ores, such as ilmenite, or (2) developing highly attrition-resistant and reactive synthetic materials. Both approaches have shortcomings, namely, the low reactivity and incompatibility of ores with solid fuel CLC and the high cost and low durability of synthetic materials. Here, a different approach is taken where attrition is assumed inevitable and the recycling of spent oxygen carrier materials is incorporated into oxygen carrier manufacture. For solid fuel CLC, Cu-based oxygen carriers are attrited and are collected with fly ash. Copper oxides are more reactive with nitric acid than most ash materials, meaning that a copper-nitrate-rich leachate can be generated. This copper nitrate stream could then be reused in oxygen carrier synthesis by impregnation. For proof of concept, leaching experiments were conducted to verify that copper oxides are selectively leached from ash-containing spent oxygen carriers. Several cases for process design are proposed based on the composition of spent materials, as the degree of copper oxidation and type of solid fuel dictate leaching residence times and general processing intensity. The four stages proposed here include impurity removal, copper leaching and recovery, solid–liquid separation, and evaporation/concentrating. The resulting process should be able to recover up to 95% of copper while minimizing inclusion of undesirable ash-based impurities.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM)
• Grant/Contract Number: FE0029160
• OSTI ID: 3010486
• Journal Information: Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, Journal Name: Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research Journal Issue: 51 Vol. 64; ISSN 1520-5045; ISSN 0888-5885
• Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

anions
copper
leaching
oxygen
reaction products