John Blamey

A novel calcium looping absorbent incorporated with polymorphic spacers for hydrogen production and CO2 capture

High temperature looping cycles can be used to produce hydrogen or capture CO2 from power stations, though sintering of absorbents is frequently a problem, reducing reactivity. In this work we develop materials, in which the crystal structure and volume of polymorphic materials change with temperature, as active spacers to reduce sintering.

Enhancement of natural limestone sorbents for calcium looping processes

Abstract Calcium looping (CaL) is a high-temperature solid looping cycle that can be used for post- or precombustion capture of CO2. Limestone (predominantly CaCO3), a cheap and abundant material, is purged in quite large quantities to ensure high reactivity, since it degrades significantly over time. The loss in reactivity is caused by either physical effects, for example, sintering or attrition, or chemical means, for example, the competing side reaction with SO2 from fuel. Much of the research has been of processes to improve sorbent behaviour; investigated here are the reactivation techniques of hydration, recarbonation and pelletization, as well as the sorbent-enhancement techniques of doping and thermal pretreatment.