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The combustion and reoxidation properties of direct coal chemical-looping combustion (CLC) over CuO, Fe2O3, Co3O4, NiO, and Mn2O3 were investigated using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and bench-scale fixed-bed flow reactor studies. When coal is heated in either nitrogen or carbon dioxide (CO2), 50% of weight loss was observed because of partial pyrolysis, consistent with the proximate analysis. Among various metal oxides evaluated, CuO showed the best reaction properties: CuO can initiate the reduction reaction as low as 500 °C and complete the full combustion at 700 °C. In addition, the reduced copper can be fully reoxidized by air at 700 °C. The combustion products formed during the CLC reaction of the coal/metal oxide mixture are CO2 and water, while no carbon monoxide was observed. Multicycle TGA tests and bench-scale fixed-bed flow reactor tests strongly supported the feasibility of CLC of coal by using CuO as an oxygen carrier. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of solid reaction products indicated some changes in the surface morphology of a CuO−coal sample after reduction/oxidation reactions at 800 °C. However, significant surface sintering was not observed. The interactions of fly ash with metal oxides were investigated by X-ray diffraction and thermodynamic analysis. Overall, the results indicated that it is feasible to develop CLC with coal by metal oxides as oxygen carriers.

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Nano-layered sorbents for CO(2) capture, for the first time, were developed using layer-by-layer nanoassembly. A CO(2)-adsorbing polymer and a strong polyelectrolyte were alternately immobilized within porous particles. The developed sorbents had fast CO(2) adsorption and desorption properties and their CO(2) capture capacity increased with increasing nano-layers of the CO(2)-adsorbing polymer.

Concerns about climate change have encouraged significant interest in concepts for zero-emission power generation systems. These systems are intended to produce power without releasing CO2 into the atmosphere. One method to achieve this goal is to produce hydrogen from the gasification of fossil or biomass fuels. Using various membrane and reforming technologies, the carbon in the parent fuel can be shifted to CO2 and removed from the fuel stream, followed by direct CO2 sequestration. The hydrogen fuel can be used directly in gas turbines fitted with low-NO x combustors. A second approach to producing zero-emission power is to replace the nitrogen diluent that accompanies conventional combustion in air with either CO2 or H2O. In this concept, CO2 or H2O is added to oxygen to control combustion temperatures in oxygen-fuel reactions. In the absence of nitrogen, the primary combustion products for any hydrocarbon under lean conditions are then simply CO2 and H2O. Thus, merely cooling the exhaust stream condenses the water and produces an exhaust of pure CO2, ready for sequestration. The dilute oxy-fuel combustion strategy can be incorporated in power cycles that are similar to Brayton or Rankine configurations, using CO2 or H2O as the primary diluent respectively. While the relative merits of the various strategies to zero-emission power are the subject of various technical and economic studies, very little work has focused on defining the combustion issues associated with the dilute oxy-fuel option. In this paper, the expected combustion performance of CO2 and H2O diluted systems are compared. Experimental results from a high-pressure oxy-fuel combustor are also presented.

The use of premix combustion in stationary gas turbines can produce very low levels of Nox emissions. This benefit is widely recognized, but turbine developers routinely encounter problems with combustion oscillations during the testing of new premix combustors. Because of the associated pressure fluctuations, combustion oscillations must be eliminated in a final combustor design. Eliminating these oscillations is often time-consuming and costly because there is no single approach to solve an oscillation problem. Previous investigations of combustion stability have focused on rocket applications, industrial furnaces, and some aeroengine gas turbines. Comparatively little published data is available for premixed combustion at conditions typical of an industrial gas turbine. In this paper, we report experimental observations of oscillations produced by a fuel nozzle typical of industrial gas turbines. Tests are conducted in a specially designed combustor capable of providing the acoustic feedback needed to study oscillations. Tests results are presented for pressure up to 10 atmospheres, with inlet air temperatures up to 588 K (600 F) burning natural gas fuel. Based on theoretical considerations, it is expected that oscillations can be characterized by a nozzle reference velocity, with operating pressure playing a smaller role. This expectation is compared to observed data that shows both the benefits and limitations of characterizing the combustor oscillating behavior in terms of a reference velocity rather than other engine operating parameters. This approach to characterizing oscillations is then used to evaluate how geometric changes to the fuel nozzle will affect the boundary between stable and oscillating combustion.