ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Performance assessment of novel nanofibrous Fe₂O₃/Al₂O₃ oxygen carriers for chemical looping combustion of gaseous fuel

Shailesh Singh Sikarwar, Ramsagar Vooradi, Venkata Suresh Patnaikuni, Manohar Kakunuri, and Kiran Donthula

Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Warangal, Warangal, India

E-mail: ramsagar@nitw.ac.in

Received: 13 April 2023  Accepted: 6 November 2023

Abstract:

Chemical looping combustion (CLC) is a promising combustion technology due to its low-energy penalty and the ability for 100% CO₂ capture. CLC at nanoscale is emerging as a favorable option for the gas-fired power plants in recent times because of the inherent advantages of the nanostructured oxygen carriers (OCs). However, the cyclic stability at high transition metal oxide loadings of OCs is crucial in the successful adoption of this technology. At high temperatures, severe sintering is a major concern for these nanostructured OCs. In this work, Fe₂O₃/Al₂O₃ (60:40) composite nanostructured OCs with fibrous morphology are synthesized using electrospinning technique. These synthesized OCs are tested for their redox cyclic stability at 900 °C under CLC atmosphere with CO as fuel in tubular fixed-bed reactor. The morphological changes of these OCs are evaluated after 10 and 20 redox cycles. The analysis of the characterization results revealed that the synthesized nanofibrous OCs even with high transition metal oxide loading exhibited remarkable sintering resistance compared to the composite nanoparticles under similar conditions.

Graphical abstract

Keywords: Electrospinning; Redox cycle; Thermal sintering; Metal oxide loading; Gaseous fuel; Cyclic stability

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-023-03199-z

Chemical Papers 78 (3) 1709–1717 (2024)