The Effect of Thermal Treatment of Hematite Ore for Chemical Looping Combustion of Methane

For chemical looping processes to become an economically viable technology, an inexpensive carrier that can endure repeated reduction and oxidation cycles needs to be identified or developed. Unfortunately, the reduction of hematite ore with methane in both batch and fluidized beds has revealed that the performance (methane conversion) decreases with time. Previous analysis had shown that the grains within the particle grew with the net effect of reducing the surface area of the particles and thereby reducing the rate and net conversion for a fixed reduction time. To improve the lifespan of hematite ore, it is hypothesized that if the grain size could be stabilized, then the conversion could be stabilized. In this work, series of tests were conducted in an electrically heated fluidized bed. The hematite ore was first pretreated at a temperature higher than the subsequent reduction temperatures. After pretreatment, the hematite ore was subjected to a series of cyclic reduction/oxidation experiments. The results show that the ore can be stabilized for cycles at different conditions up to the pretreatment temperature without any degradation. Details of the pretreatment process and the test results will be presented.