DOE / NETL - 2008 / 1307 Independent Assessment of the Potential of Chemical - Looping in the Context of a Fischer - Tropsch Plant Chemical - Looping Process in a Coal - to - Liquids Configuration

Disclaimer This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference therein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed therein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. (OSU) for their cooperation in providing the information needed to perform the analysis. This report does not contain any sensitive or proprietary information. In addition, the authors would like to thank Gary Stiegel and Julianne Klara of the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) for their very helpful suggestions during the execution of this analysis. At the request of the Department of Energy (DOE) National Energy Laboratory (NETL), Noblis performed an independent technical assessment of the potential of chemical looping in the context of a Fischer-Tropsch coal-to-liquids (CTL) plant. Several different concepts of chemical looping are being developed. In this analysis the concept under development by Ohio State University (OSU) was assessed to confirm that the thermochemical operations were in heat balance at temperatures compatible with an operable system, and to develop simulations of an entire coal to Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) liquids process, including the proposed looping scheme. Noblis was also asked to compare the technical performance results of a CTL plant with chemical looping with a conventional coal-to-liquids (CTL) system. The Ohio State University (OSU) is developing a chemical looping scheme that could find application for treating tail gas from a coal based Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) Coal-to-Liquids (CTL) process. This chemical looping concept uses iron oxide (Fe2O3) to react with the unreacted synthesis gas (H 2 and CO) and light hydrocarbons in the effluent tail gas from an F-T reactor. This reaction that takes place in a Fuel Reactor produces CO 2 , H 2 O and reduced iron. The reduced iron is then reacted with steam to produce hydrogen that can be recycled to the F-T reactor to adjust …