GaSTech - Demonstration of Gas Switching Technology for Accelerated Scale-up of Pressurized Chemical Looping Applications

Gas switching technology offers a promising alternative to chemical looping applications for highly efficient power or hydrogen production with integrated CO₂ capture. Highly efficient oxygen production for oxyfuel CO₂ capture is also possible. In order to maximize efficiency, these processes need to operate at elevated pressures, creating serious scale-up challenges for interconnected chemical looping reactors. Gas switching reactors, on the other hand, utilize simple standalone bubbling/turbulent fluidized beds that are alternatively fed with oxidizing and reducing gases. This simple reactor configuration can be scaled up and pressurized without facing unforeseen challenges.

The GaSTech project will accelerate the development of gas switching technologies by developing a business case for further technology scale-up.
The business case will have two main components:

• lab-scale demonstration (TRL 4) of gas switching reactor concepts 
• large-scale technology implementation studies to evaluate the techno-economic feasibility of process concepts incorporating gas switching reactors.

Specialized partners will be responsible for each individual project component and research will be carried out primarily using existing infrastructure and models. Experimental demonstration will utilize an existing reactor at NTNU that has been successfully used for demonstration of pressurized gas switching combustion. ETH will select and pre-test the oxygen carrier materials to be manufactured by ESAM for demonstration purposes. SINTEF will utilize existing large-scale gas switching reactor models to provide input to process simulations done by NTNU and UPM. Using this data, UBB will carry out economic assessments for the different processes. HAYAT will then evaluate the business case based on the main project results.