A structural model for gas—solid reactions with a moving boundary—V an experimental study of the reduction of porous nickel-oxide pellets with hydrogen

CO2 capturing methods: Chemical looping combustion (CLC) as a promising technique

This reports recent advances on CO₂ capturing methods, focusing on chemical looping combustion (CLC) as a promising technology to achieve this goal. Generally, there are three main methods to capture CO₂ resulting from fossil fuel combustion: post-combustion, oxy-combustion, and pre-combustion. In CLC, which is either classified as a pre-combustion method or as the fourth capturing method, the solid oxygen carrier provides the oxygen needed for combustion. This technique helps to avoid diluting the combustion effluent stream with the N₂ released from air and therefore, minimizes the requirement of CO₂ separation, a major cost of CO₂ capture. In addition, it minimizes the formation of NO_x that results when N₂ comes in contact with oxygen and fuels at high temperatures. The desired properties of oxygen carrier candidates for CLC are high reduction and re-oxidation rates, high oxygen capacity, good stability and fludiziability at high temperatures, friendly to the environment, and low cost. Transition metal oxides are common candidates for CLC. Most investigations in this field have examined the reactivity and stability of oxygen carriers but few investigations have focused on their reduction and re-oxidation reaction mechanisms. Researchers have proposed two mechanisms for these reactions, the nucleation-nuclei growth and unreacted shrinking core models. Despite numerous investigations of CLC, there is still a lack of knowledge in some of its aspects such as the underlying surface chemistry and the economic impact. This work critically reviewed all capturing methods of CO₂ with focusing on CLC process as a promising technology due to its ability to concentrate the resulted CO₂ and minimizes the separation cost. This work provides essential insight information into CLC technology and highlights its status and needs.

Effects of cobalt addition on the catalytic activity of the Ni-YSZ anode functional layer and the electrochemical performance of solid oxide fuel cells

The effects of cobalt (Co) addition in the Ni-YSZ anode functional layer (AFL) on the structure and electrochemical performance of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses confirmed that the active metallic phase is a Ni(1-x)Co(x) alloy under the operation conditions of the SOFC. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations indicate that the grain size of Ni(1-x)Co(x) increases with increasing Co content. Thermogravimetric analyses on the reduction of the Ni(1-x)Co(x)O-YSZ powders show that there are two processes: the chemical-reaction-controlled process and the diffusion-controlled process. It is found that the reduction peak corresponding to the chemical-reaction-controlled process in the DTG curves moves toward lower temperatures with increasing Co content, suggesting that the catalytic activity of Ni(1-x)Co(x) is enhanced by the doping of Co. It is observed that the SOFC shows the best performance at x = 0.03, and the corresponding maximum power densities are 445, 651, and 815 mW cm(-2) at 700, 750, and 800 °C, respectively. The dependence of the SOFC performance on the Co content can be attributed to the competing results between the decreased three-phase-boundary length in the AFL and the enhanced catalytic activity of the Ni(1-x)Co(x) phase with increasing Co content.