An innovative lab-scale apparatus for the characterization of calcium looping sorbents

The loss of calcium oxide CO2 capture capacity and the extent of particle attrition over iterated cycles are relevant to the design of Calcium Looping processes. Thermogravimetric analyzers or single batch fluidized bed reactors are typically used at the lab-scale to evaluate the sorbent performance. One drawback of these devices is that they do not reproduce the thermal history that is actually experienced by sorbent particles in real looping cycles. In this study, a novel experimental device is proposed to overcome this limitation. The test reactor has been used to assess the effect of the thermal history of CaO particles on their CO2 capture capacity and attrition tendency. The results were compared to those previously obtained with the same sorbent under comparable operating conditions in a single bed apparatus. The comparison reveals that the thermal history experienced by the CaO has a non-negligible effect on its performance.