Investigation of hydrogen generation in a three reactor chemical looping reforming process

摘要

Chemical looping reforming (CLR) is a relatively new method to produce hydrogen (H-2) and is also used as an energy conversion method for solid, liquid or gaseous fuels. There are various advantages of this method such as inherent carbon dioxide (CO2) capture, minimal NOx emissions and the H-2 production. In this process, there is no direct contact between the fuel and oxidizer. This method utilizes oxygen from an oxygen carrier which may be a transition metal. The idea is to split the combustion process into three separate sub-processes by employing three separate reactors: air reactor where the oxygen carrier is oxidized by air, fuel reactor where natural gas is oxidized to produce a stream of CO2 and H2O and steam reactor where the steam is reduced to produce H-2.