Review and research needs of Ca-Looping systems modelling for post-combustion CO2 capture applications

Ca-Looping technology has experienced a substantial development in the technical readiness level in the last years, especially in its application as post-combustion CO2 capture technology in power plants. Experimental results from MW-scale power plants worldwide have confirmed post-combustion Ca-Looping process using interconnected circulating fluidised bed reactors as a promising technology for CO2 capture. Among the different fields of research having contributed to this breakthrough, modelling activity aiming at assessing sorbent properties, interpreting results from experimental reactors or assessing technology scale-up through large-scale reactors and process integration have played a crucial role. This paper aims at reviewing and discussing findings obtained by different research groups worldwide about post-combustion Ca-Looping process modelling. Assumptions made with respect to sorbent performance, reactor operating conditions and process integration between different components are crucial when evaluating the performance of the Ca-Looping process as a post-combustion technology for CO2 capture. With the aim of understanding the importance of these assumptions, this paper covers particle reaction and reactor models for carbonation and calcination steps, assessing the impact of the conditions used for their determination into their reactivity predictions, as well as process modelling works that assess performance obtained when integrating a Ca-Looping process into a power plant. Indications on the research needs detected among the reviewed works have also been highlighted in this work to contribute to the advancement of the knowledge on the Ca-Looping technology. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.