Waste products from the steel industry with NiO as additive as oxygen carrier for chemical-looping combustion

Fe2O3-containing waste materials from the steel industry are proposed as oxygen carrier for chemical-looping combustion. Three such materials, red iron oxide, brown iron oxide and iron oxide scales, have been examined by oxidation and reduction experiments in a batch fluidized-bed reactor at temperatures between 800 and 950 degrees C. NiO-based particles have been used as additive, in order to examine if it is possible to utilize the catalytic properties of metallic Ni to facilitate decomposition of hydrocarbons into more reactive combustion intermediates such as CO and H-2. The experiments indicated modest reactivity between the waste materials and CH4, which was used as reducing gas. Adding small amounts of NiO-based particles to the sample increased the yield of CO2 in a standard experiment, typically by a factor of 1.5-3.5. The fraction of unconverted fuel typically was reduced by 70-90%. The conversion of CH4 to CO2 was 94% at best, corresponding to a combustion efficiency of 96%. This was achieved using a bed mass corresponding to 57 kg oxygen carrier per MW fuel, of which only 5 wt% was NiO-based synthetic particles. The different materials fared differently well during the experiments. Red iron oxide was fairly stable, while brown iron oxide was soft and subject to considerable erosion. Iron oxide scales experienced increased reactivity and porosity as function of the numbers of reduction cycles. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.