The National Energy Technology Laboratory Office of Research and Development (ORD) is working to evaluate, develop, and improve designs for chemical looping process applications using fluidized bed technologies.  Two major impediments to the successful development and commercialization of chemical looping combustion are solids-handling problems associated with the huge amounts of metal and metal oxides that must be transported between reactors, and the physical and chemical stresses on the mechanical integrity of the metal and metal oxide particles.  This project is aimed at assessing and improving measurements of the rate of solids flow between various high-temperature reactor vessels.  

ORD researchers are developing an improved optical sensor for solids flow measurement.  Control of solids flow is critical to multi-reactor coal conversion chemical looping processes.  This device can provide information to improve cold flow data quality by evaluating the wall effects on the solids flow profile.  Existing optical techniques are limited in particle size and/or loading (i.e. Laser Doppler Velocimeter) optical probe.  When development of the optical sensor is completed, process designers and operators will be able to measure, control, and optimize the solids flow in complex chemical looping systems with multiple fluid bed reactors.

Schematic of optical sensor for solids flow measurement.