Aiming to address the issues of greenhouse gas emission and heat transfer associated with current methane reforming process, USDOE-NETL has intensively investigated the reaction performance of mixed CuO-Fe2O3 oxide (patented) materials on novel approaches of power generation and hydrogen production from methane. The first process combined chemical looping combustion, methane decomposition and surface carbon gasification, while the second process combined the chemical looping with methane reforming. Thermodynamic analysis indicated that the heat releasing from methane combustion can cover endothermic methane reforming and decomposition reactions, and could be used for power generation with producing sequestration-ready CO2. The commercially-prepared CuO-Fe2O3 material works as oxygen carrier in chemical looping combustion, while the reduced species of same material functions as catalyst for hydrogen production by methane decomposition or methane reforming. Multiple-cycle tests of those process steps have been experimentally evaluated in a bench-scale flow reactor. The reforming performance of Cu-Fe catalyst are comparable with commercial NiO/Al2O3 catalyst in long-life reaction time/condition. Optimized syngas composition (H2/CO ratios~2) or purer H2 was observed by in-line MS during reactor testing. The characterization data of surface/bulk composition, oxidation states during redox cycle, as well as major physical properties will been reported.

Co-production of power and hydrogen by combined processes of chemical looping, combustion, and methane decomposition/reforming

251st National Meeting (2016)

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