Transformation and Migrant Mechanism of Sulfur and Nitrogen during Chemical Looping Combustion with CuFe₂O₄

Abstract

Chemical looping combustion (CLC) is a key technology for capturing CO2. Different types of oxygen carrier (OC) particles are used in coal CLC. The migration and transformation behaviors of sulfur and nitrogen are basically the same when CaFe2O4 and Fe2O3/Al2O3 are used as OC. CLC can be divided into two reaction stages: coal pyrolysis and char gasification; SO2 and NO show bimodal release characteristics, both of which show a basic trend of rising first and then falling down. The contents of H2S and NO2 increased rapidly at the beginning of the reaction and then decreased slowly at the stage of char gasification. H2S is released rapidly during coal pyrolysis and discharged from the reactor with flue gas, and then part of H2S is converted to SO2 during the char gasification stage by OC particles. NO can be oxidized by OC particles and form NO2. The increase in the reaction temperature and oxygen-to-carbon ratio (O/C) contributes to the release of sulfur and nitrogen and higher reaction temperature and O/C can inhibit the formation of metal sulfide. O2 released by CuFe2O4 significantly increases the contents of SO2, H2S, NO and NO2 in flue gas. This work is helpful for improving control strategies for pollutants.

Keywords

• chemical looping combustion
• sulfur
• nitrogen
• oxygen carrier particles