Abstract
Abstract
The operational feasibility temperature range of chemical looping combustion (CLC) and chemical looping reforming (CLR) of the fuels methane, propane, iso-octane and ethanol was explored using the common sulphates Na
2
SO
4
, CaSO
4
and MgSO
4
as oxygen carriers. The chemical reaction equations for each oxygen carrier and fuel were formulated and fed into the Chemical Equations module of HSC Chemistry 5.1 software to obtain the Gibbs free energy change (G) of the chemical reaction within the temperature range (200–1200
∘
C). The CLC and CLR process operational feasibility temperature range for the fuel-oxygen carrier combination was mapped excluding the undesirable formation of SO
2
in CLC and H
2
S and S in CLR. Na
2
SO
4
and CaSO
4
were found to be suitable for all CLC and CLR systems. MgSO
4
was not found to be a suitable candidate for CLC or CLR processes irrespective of the fuel considered. Methane was found to be better than the other fuels studied as the operational temperature range of CLC and CLR processes were wide for all the sulphates. This short cut methodology presented in this paper can be used to predict the operational feasibility of CLC and CLR processes of different fuels and oxygen carriers.