Chemical looping gasification of phosphogypsum as an oxygen carrier: The Ca and S migration mechanism using the DFT method

• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.06.506
• Publication Date: 2019-07-01T05:35:20Z
• Authors: Jing Yang; Liping Ma; Jie Yang; Zhiying Guo; Hongpan Liu; Wei Zhang
• Keywords: Chemical-Looping Combustion; Phosphogypsum

Chemical-looping gasification (CLG) is a novel process for syngas generation from solid fuels that shares the same basic principles as chemical-looping combustion (CLC). This method also uses oxygen carriers (mainly metal oxides and calcium sulfate) to transfer heat and oxygen to the fuel. In this work, we used phosphogypsum (PG) as the oxygen carrier in CLG with lignite fuel. Based on experimental and density functional theory (DFT) theoretical calculation analysis, the Ca and S migration characteristics in PG and the reaction mechanism between lignite fuel molecules and the oxygen carrier PG in CLG were explored. The results show that there is a series of tandem and competitive reactions during this process, and the optimal temperature range of the fuel reactor in the chemical looping gasification of PG oxygen carriers is 1173 K-1223 K. The only gaseous sulfide detected is H2S, and the solid sulfide CaS and a small amount of unreacted CaSO4 are detected at a temperature of 1173 K. DFT calculation shows that the presence of S+6 atoms from SO42- on the top of the CaSO4 surface is more favourable than Ca2+ for C, CO, and H2 oxidation at a temperature of 1173 K. During oxidation, lattice O consumption mainly occurs around the S+6 atoms stepwise from S+6 → S-2 at a temperature of 1173 K. In addition, CO and H2 oxidation occur more easily than that of C at a temperature of 1173 K. The experimental results and the calculated results show good consistency, providing valuable information regarding the reactivity of the oxygen carrier PG and the C, CO, and H2 oxidation over the CaSO4 surface at an atomic level.