Substantiation by Calculation of a System for Hydrogen Production from Biomass Using Chemical Looping Gasification

Modern requirements for the production of hydrogen with a minimum carbon footprint, the possibility of using polygenerating systems for production of electricity, heat, or useful products, and chemical-looping technologies for producing hydrogen combined with capture of carbon dioxide are considered. A new system has been developed that integrates the use of biomass as a fuel, chemical looping, and syngas production in a polygenerating system of interconnected reactors, which is very promising in maximizing the effectiveness of hydrogen production without a carbon footprint (or with a negative carbon footprint). A procedure and results of calculations of the composition and consumption of generator gas, material balance of a chemical looping system, heat values of chemical reactions in a system of interconnected reactors, heat balance and temperatures in individual reactors, and heat and material balances in exhaust gas heat recovery units are presented. The effect of the main operating conditions of a chemical looping system on temperatures in the reactors was determined on the basis of the calculated and material balances. The calculated efficiency in terms of hydrogen production (75.93%) is given. This value fits well into the broad outline of the results obtained in simulation of similar systems for chemical looping hydrogen production from metal oxides and can be considered as a guideline when developing engineering solutions within the scope of the proposed process flow diagram. Potential directions of further studies are set.