Rotating bed reactor for CLC: Bed characteristics dependencies on internal gas mixing

A newly designed continuous lab-scale rotating bed reactor for chemical looping combustion using CuO/Al2O3 oxygen carrier spheres and methane as fuel gives around 90% CH₄ conversion and >90% CO₂ capture efficiency based on converted methane at 800C. However, from a series of experiments using a broad
range of operating conditions potential CO₂ purities only in the range 20–65% were yielded, mostly
due to nitrogen slip from the air side of the reactor into the effluent CO₂ stream. A mathematical model
was developed intending to understand the air-mixing phenomena. The model clearly reflects the gas
slippage tendencies observed when varying the process conditions such as rotation frequency, gas flow
and the flow if inert gas in the two sectors dividing the air and fuel side of the reactor. Based on the
results, it is believed that significant improvements can be made to reduce gas mixing in future modified
and scaled-up reactor versions.