Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

The applicants are engaged in studies of calcium sorbents as inexpensive and widely available materials capable to being used in a looping cycle for concentrating carbon dioxide, as a critical element in the capture and sequestration of the most common greenhouse gas responsible for global warming.  The concept being pursued involves two fluidized bed reactors operating in parallel.  In one, limestone or dolomite is calcined.  Lime is then circulated to the combustor, gasifier or steam reformer, where the lime sorbent is carbonated in parallel with the combustion, gasification or reforming reactions, tying up most of the CO2 as CaCO3.  The latter is then recirculated to the calciner, acting as a regenerator.  This looping concept has definite economic promise, and is particularly attractive in the reforming and gasification cases, where it has added benefits - shifting the equilibrium to yield more hydrogen, release of heat in the reactor where the main reactions are endothermic, reduced loss of activity, and decrease tar formation.  We have done extensive studies already on the kinetics, activation energy, pore size distribution evolution and sorbent evaluation based on a custom-designed dual-environment thermogravimetric reactor.  However, this equipment is limited to atmospheric pressure.  The requested High Pressure TGA instrument would allow us to extend our work to elevated pressure (5 to 25 bars) needed to conduct our tests relevant to the practical operating conditions of reforming and gasification, both of which are normally carried out under pressure.  The equipment would be of immediate and direct benefit to two PhD students, one post-doctoral fellow and one undergraduate research project, and of longer term benefit to other researchers in addition to Drs. Grace and Lim.