Experimental and numerical simulation of lignite chemical looping gasification with phosphogypsum as oxygen carrier in a fluidized bed

Phosphogypsum (PG) is a solid waste produced in the wet process of producing phosphoric acid. Lignite is a kind of promising chemical raw material. However, the high sulfur of lignite limits the utilization of lignite as a resource. Based on fluidized bed experiments, the optimal reaction conditions for the production syngas by lignite chemical looping gasification (CLG) with PG as oxygen carrier were studied. The study found that the optimal reaction temperature should not exceed 1123 K; the mole ratio of water vapor to lignite should be about 0.2; the mole ratio of PG oxygen carrier to lignite should be about 0.6. Meanwhile, commercial software Comsol was used to establish a fuel reaction kinetics model. Through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical simulation, the process of reaction in fluidized bed were well captured. The model was based on a two-fluid model and coupled mass transfer, heat transfer and chemical reactions. This study showed that the fluidized bed presents a flow structure in which gas and solid coexist. There was a high temperature zone in the middle and lower parts of the fluidized bed. It could be seen from the results of the flow field simulated that the fluidized bed was beneficial to the progress of the gasification reaction. (C) 2021 The Chemical Industry and Engineering Society of China, and Chemical Industry Press Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.