DUAL FLUIDIZED-BED REACTOR SYSTEM

The CLOU (Chemical Looping Oxygen Uncoupling) system is a 220 kW pilot demonstration furnace for oxy-combustion of solid fuels using chemical looping. A specially engineered carrier is circulated between two fluidized bed reactors, transporting oxygen by oxidizing in one reactor and reducing in the other. The liberated oxygen from the reduced carrier combusts with solid fuel particles.

The University of Utah’s pressurized entrained-flow reactor is a downwards-fired, refractory-lined system with the flexibility to utilize either oxygen, air, or enriched air as the oxidant with provisions to co-feed other gases such as carbon dioxide. It has a maximum capacity of more than 1 ton per day. When operated as a gasifier, liquid or slurry feedstock is fed with oxygen or air into a burner at the top of the reactor and undergoes partial oxidation to form a combustible synthesis gas containing high concentrations of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The gas and smelt (slag) products exit the bottom of the reactor and enter a water-cooled quench system where they are cooled and gas is separated from the condensed material. The cooled syngas is then fed to the system’s thermal oxidizer (afterburner), where it is combusted.

Specifications

  • Fuel types: coal-water slurry, spent pulping liquor (black liquor), petroleum oils, biomass pyrolysis oils, coal liquefaction oils
  • Air-blown or oxygen-blown
  • Max. fuel feed rate: 1 ton (dry) per 24 hours
  • Max. heat input: 300 kW
  • Max. temperature: 1500°C
  • Max. pressure: 2.3 MPa
  • Overall dimensions: Ø 0.75m (2.5 ft) x 5.3m (17.5 ft)
  • Reactor dimensions: Ø 0.20m (0.67 ft) x 1.7m (5.67 ft)

Capabilities

  • Characterization of syngas and condensable hydrocarbons “tars”
  • Reactor mapping – measurement of progression of gas and condensed-phase composition and fuel conversion
  • Identification of operating windows
  • Generation of industrially representative syngas for research on downstream gas cleaning or conditioning units

Research

  • Development of experimental data for validation of simulations of pressurized, oxygen-blown entrained-flow gasifiers
  • Characterization and development of models for the performance of high temperature, pressurized gasification of black liquor
  • Wavelength-multiplexed diode laser absorption sensors for rapid monitoring of coal-derived synthesis gas