Development of an innovative Gas Turbine Chemical Looping Combustor for Carbon Negative Power Generation

Project Information

GTCLC-NEG

Grant agreement ID: 101018756

DOI

10.3030/101018756

Project closed

EC signature date 29 April 2021

Start date 1 July 2021

End date 30 June 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 160 932,48

EU contribution

€ 160 932,48

Coordinated by

AGENCIA ESTATAL CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - GTCLC-NEG (Development of an innovative Gas Turbine Chemical Looping Combustor for Carbon Negative Power Generation)

Reporting period: 2021-07-01 to 2023-06-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Climate Change is the major global challenge of this century, with significant ramifications on human life. Unfortunately it is unlikely that agreed climate targets can be met without removing CO2 from the atmosphere. Negative Emissions Technologies are needed. The specific objective of the current project is thus to develop a carbon negative technology which can produce power and heat at low cost. Chemical Looping Combustion (CLC) of biofuels can be such a process and is the basis of the project. Biomass absorbs CO2 during growth and releases it when burnt; but if CO2 is captured after combustion this will result in a net flow of carbon out of the atmosphere, i.e. Carbon Negative Technology, or Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage (BECCS). CLC is a form of unmixed combustion which uses an oxygen carrier to transfer oxygen from air to fuel and permits to have a pure flow of CO2, which can be easily captured at a low cost. The aim of the project is to develop a multifuel CLC combustor which can be coupled with a Gas Turbine (GT).

Specific description of the importance of the project for the society
Carbon Capture and Storage is of paramount importance for SDG7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) and SDG5 (Climate Action). It is believed that one of the most effective ways to couple biomass energy and CCUS is to burn biomass or biofuels in a Chemical Looping Combustor, where CO2 can be easily captured after exiting the fuel reactor. CLC uses an oxygen carrier to transfer oxygen to the fuel and obtains CO2 in pure form inherently in the process. As CLC is not burdened with any separation work, it is uniquely applicable for carbon capture and can achieve negative emissions, when used with biomass. The social and economic impact of substituting the current Natural Gas Combined Cycle powerplants with GT-CLC cycles is huge. It can generate at least 100,000 of new jobs positions at European level, solving a key problem for the gas turbine and the bioenergy sector.

The following objective have been investigated during the GTCLC-NEG project:
1) high efficiency bimetallic oxygen carriers are needed
2) low attrition rate oxygen carriers are needed which can work in extreme conditions;
3) kinetics aspects under high pressure and temperature conditions are not known;
4) reactor injection system has to be adapted to biofuels; the use of the hot air produced from the air reactor in a gas turbine has to be optimized; exhausts should be filtered to retain the dust released by oxygen carrier attrition;
5) high electrical efficiency of the power system has to be granted together with high fuel conversion in the combustor

The objectives of this project fit the Horizon 2020 Framework Program, regarding the "transition to a reliable energetic sustainable and competitive system" and “supporting climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies”, as well as with the Societal Challenge Horizon 2020 Framework Program 'Climate action, environment,resource efficiency and raw materials' where, among others, the objective is “to achieve a... climate change resilient economy and society”. Note that R&D activities on chemical looping have been founded by EU (RFCS, FP5, FP6, FP7 and H2020 programs) and the topic included in this proposal is susceptible to be financed by future EU programs.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The start of the project was on 1st July 2021. We can divide the main activities on: research and training activities.

In WP1 a state of the art on oxygen carriers performance has been firstly organized. After training from CSIC, the researcher has prepared and characterized different oxygen carriers to be used in chemical looping combustion tests through impregnation, mechanical mixing, granulation (D1.1). The finally produced oxygen carriers have been:
- Fe20γAl
- Ni18αAl
- Ilmenite
- Tierga ore
- Iron-Manganese-Titanium based oxygen carriers
- Manganese-Iron Oxygen carriers
After training, characterization of oxygen carriers has been done through: ICP-OES, TGA, crushing strength analyzer, particle size distribution analyzer, skeletal density analyzer, porosimeter, BET analysis, XRD, SEM.

In the workpackage 2 tests were performed on a batch reactor made of Kanthal, an alloy made of FeCrAl, which allowed to reach high temperatures during the oxidation and reduction steps. Nickel derived oxygen carriers and iron derived oxygen carriers were tested with biomethane as a fuel in two experimental campaigns based on about 160 batch plant working hours. Six different temperatures were tested: 950°C, 1000°C, 1050°C, 1100°C, 1150°C and 1200°C with the aim of observing the influence of temperature on oxygen carrier attrition and bed agglomeration process.

In the workpackage 3 we performed modeling following at least 4 approaches:
- particle modeling based on the data derived from the pressurized thermogravimetric balance (PTGA);
- 0D modeling based on a previous model developed by Instituto de Carboquimica and University of Vienna, which was modified to take into consideration the effect of pressure on reactions and fluidization aspects;
- an Aspen Plus® model;
- two Computational Fluid dynamics models realized respectively in MFIX software and Barracuda® software.

In workpackage 4 an experimental campaign was performed on a continuous chemical looping combustion plant using glycerol and bio-oil as a model compound for liquid biofuels.

In workpackage 5 the guidelines for the design of a pressurized chemical looping combustor to be coupled to a gas turbine were developed during the secondment with Baker Hughes company (performed at the production site of Florence) and the collaboration with Tampere University.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The project GTCLC-NEG has verified the proof of concept of a plant made by a chemical looping combustor with the objective of being coupled to a gas turbine. For each workpackage we propose the most important results which can be also object of further exploitation actions:

WP 1: It is important to produce the synthetic oxygen carriers focusing on:
- the interaction between the support (alumina) and the metal oxide which is loaded on the support. This becomes a key aspect when nickel based oxygen carriers are produced.
- the structure of the material (both for synthetic and natural oxygen carriers) and its composition in terms of main and trace components.
- oxygen vacancies and lattice oxygen migration processes.
WP 2: It was found a particular range of conditions of temperature in which the reforming action during the combustion process was reduced and the combustion efficiency was greater. This range was for temperatures comprised between 1100°C and 1200°C.
WP 3:
- Measure of the activation energy and pre-exponential factor for pressurized chemical looping of nickel based oxygen carrier at different pressures, using biomethane as a fuel.
- 0D pressurized chemical looping model
- CFD models of pressurized chemical looping combustors
- ASPEN model of a 12MW gas turbine coupled with a chemical looping combustor
WP 4:
- continuous tests with liquid biofuels;
- high combustion efficiency obtained when solid carbon production is limited
WP 5:
- innovative combustion systems design
- carbon negative technologies development in the gas turbine sector, for microturbine technology

ASME CBAF COMMITTEE MEETING

Picture in the lab

EU RESEARCHERS NIGHT 2021

PARTICIPATION AT TURBO EXPO 2023

CLC2022B

CLC2022A

Training Course Jaca July 2021

EU RESEARCHERS NIGHT 2022

Training Course Jaca July 2021

CLC2022C

SECONDMENT AT BAKER HUGHES SITE IN FLORENCE

Research group picture CSIC-ICB