Operation of a cyclonic preheater in the Ca-looping for CO2 capture.

Calcium looping is an emerging technology for CO2 capture that makes use of the calcium oxide as a sorbent. One of its main issues is the significant energy consumption in the calciner, where the regeneration of the sorbent takes place. Nevertheless, as a high temperature looping technology, the surplus heat flows may be used to reduce the energy needs in this reactor. The addition of a cyclonic preheater similar to those used in the cement industry is proposed in this work. A calcium looping system was modeled and simulated to assess the advantages and disadvantages of the inclusion of a cyclonic preheater. Despite the negative effect on the maximum average capture capacity of the sorbent, a reduction on the coal and oxygen consumptions and on the extra CO2 generated in the calciner is obtained.