Development of Synthetic Ca-based CO2 Sorbents for Sorption Enhanced Reforming Coupled to Ca/Cu Chemical Loop

Sorption Enhanced Reforming (SER) is a very promising option that allows H 2 production coupled with capturing CO 2 by sorption. The present research work focus in the sorbent point of view and several synthetic materials with a high CO 2 absorption capacity and chemically and mechanically stable during multi-cyclic operation (at least 40 calcination-carbonation cycles and 100 cycles in some cases) under the typical SER process conditions have been developed. Two different synthesis routes (co-precipitation and mechanical mixing) have been followed trying to evaluate the effect of two different inert supports (magnesium oxide and mayenite) on the evolution of the CO 2 carrying capacity of the materials. Also, sorbents have been synthesized with different morphologies (powder and particles) and sizes (from 100 microns up to 2 mm) in order to test their reactivity and mechanical suitability for large scale reactor system operation. Synthetic dolomite with a molar CaO/MgO ratio of 2:1 synthesized by co-precipitation method exhibited very stable performance for 100 consecutive carbonation/calcination cycles and a residual CO 2 carrying capacity of 0.29 gr CO2 /gr calcined sorbent . Also a very promising result has been obtained for this sorbent mixed with a commercial catalyst in a preliminary SER experiment that yield a H 2 production of 92% vol. (d.b.).