Three-Dimensional Reacting Flow Simulation of a Chemical Looping Fuel Reactor

Chemical looping combustion (CLC) is one of several proposed methods for energy production from fossil fuels with CO₂ capture. The most common CLC configuration consists of an interconnected fast fluidized bed air reactor and a bubbling bed fuel reactor. The fuel reactor is where the fuel, such as CH₄, H₂ or even coal, reacts with the solid oxygen carrier. Thus the performance of the fuel reactor will determine the performance of the whole interconnected system. Simulations using ANSYS-Fluent were performed and combined with user defined functions to study the flow behavior and the reduction of the oxygen carrier in the fuel reactor. Parameters such as the oxygen carrier particle size, bed height in the fuel reactor, and fluidization gas flow rates were varied to study the effects on the performance of the fuel reactor. The distributions of pressure, temperature and gaseous components such as N₂, CO₂, H₂O and CH₄ were analyzed and the results will be discussed.