Hydrodynamic studies of the dual fluidized bed reactor systems for high temperature solid looping cycles

Abstract

A high temperature solid looping cycle (HTSLC) is a type of chemical process carried out in twin reactor system. The hot solid particles are transferred from first reactor to second reactor and same particles are transferred back to the original reactor in the continuous and endless cyles. The purpose of the solid transfer is either to provide heat to carry out the desired reaction or to regenerate the particle reactivity. In some operations solid transport is required for both purposes. The calcium looping process, steam gasification process and chemical looping combustion are the examples of high temperature solid looping cycles. All these processes are well acknowledged for their potential in carbon capture development. Although these processes differ on the basis of chemistry, they require the use of same reactor system called dual fluidized bed (DFB) system. These HTSLCs are currently under the demonstration phase at pilot scale. A 200 kWth test plant is built at University of Stuttgart to demonstrate calcium looping and sorption enhanced reforming process. This thesis presents hydrodynamic studies carried out on the cold model of the test plant.