Cooperative US-Swedish Research on Chemical Looping Combustion with Oxygen Uncoupling: Planning Visit to Chalmers University

通过一次研究计划访问，犹他大学的Kevin Whitty博士将在哥德堡的查尔默斯大学与瑞典合作伙伴安德斯·林格费尔特博士、托拜厄斯·马蒂森博士和亨里克·莱昂博士启动一个合作项目。他们打算通过利用查尔默斯在化学链方面的著名专业知识和犹他大学在化学动力学方面的成熟优势，共同探讨与化学链燃烧相关的问题。瑞典合作伙伴提供了实验室规模的化学循环燃烧中试设施，其互连的流态化床可用于氧化各种气态燃料和煤炭。犹他州小组在开发用氧载体模拟煤和石油焦燃烧所需的动力学参数方面取得了进展，这是一个补充。最初的合作预计将帮助美国-瑞典团队扩大他们的研究范围，目标是加快氧解偶联化学环(CLU)领域的进展。如果成功，结果可能有助于理解和开发有效地将固体在燃料反应堆中的停留时间显著减少的CLU过程所需的基础工程。可能产生的更广泛影响包括二氧化碳捕获理论和实践知识的进步。设想的长期应用可能导致连续反应堆的设计，以更大规模和更低的成本展示COU。为了在初步发现的基础上再接再厉，首席研究人员计划向国家科学基金会提交后续申请，以合作研究相关的交通和热流体现象。此外，犹他大学的一名美国研究生将与惠蒂博士一起前往哥德堡，参加查尔默斯的联合活动，从而获得有益的国际研究经验。这种早期的职业生涯接触到瑞典专家工程师和专门的反应堆升级，应该会在与能源和燃烧有关的日益重要的领域形成一个有益的专业网络。

Through a research planning visit, Dr. Kevin Whitty of the University of Utah will initiate a collaborative project with Swedish partners, Drs. Anders Lyngfelt, Tobias Martison, and Henrik Leion, at the Chalmers University in Gothenburg. Together, they intend to pursue questions related to chemical looping combustion by drawing on the renowned expertise in chemical looping at Chalmers and the well established strengths in chemical kinetics at the University of Utah. The Swedish partners offer bench-scale pilot facilities for chemical looping combustion with interconnected fluidized beds that can be used to oxidize a variety of gaseous fuels and coals. This is complemented by the Utah group's progress in developing kinetic parameters needed to model the combustion of coal and petroleum coke with an oxygen carrier. The initial collaboration is expected to help the U.S.-Swedish team extend their research with the goal of accelerating progress in the field of chemical looping with oxygen uncoupling (CLOU) . If successful, results may contribute to the fundamental engineering required to understand and develop a CLOU process that effectively reduces the residence time for solids in fuel reactors by a significant percent. Likely broader impacts include advances in knowledge of theoretical and practical CO2 capture. Envisioned long-term applications could lead to designs for continuous reactors to demonstrate CLOU at larger scales and at reduced costs. To build on preliminary findings, the principal investigator plans to submit a follow-on application to the National Science Foundation for cooperative research on related transport and thermal fluids phenomena. Furthermore, one U.S. graduate student from the University of Utah will travel with Dr. Whitty to Gothenburg and participate in joint activities at Chalmers, thereby gaining beneficial international research experience. This early career access to expert Swedish engineers and specialized reactor scaling should lead to a beneficial professional network in the increasingly important fields related to energy and combustion.