Preparation and Characterization of Fe2O3/Al2O3 Using the Solution Combustion Approach for Chemical Looping Combustion

Chemical looping combustion (CLC) is an attractive technology for CO2 capture with high energy efficiency. In this article, an Fe2O3/Al2O3 (Fe:Al = 3:1) oxygen carrier was first prepared by the solution combustion approach for the CLC process. The prepared oxygen carrier was characterized by different means. XRD identification has substantiated the necessity of calcinations to synthesize Fe2O3/Al2O3 oxygen carrier. SEM and TEM images showed the regular spherical and cubical shape and abundant porous structure in Fe2O3/Al2O3 oxygen carrier, respectively. Structural characteristics displayed that the pore shape of Fe2O3/Al2O3 particles was heterogeneous. The average pore size and surface area were 64.76 nm and 4.01 m(2)/g, respectively. Further, H-2 temperature programmed reduction (TPR) of Fe2O3/Al2O3 oxygen carrier indicated that the reduction reaction had only one distinct DTG peak with the weight loss rate reaching 4.75 wt %/min. Finally, five cycles of red-ox reaction by alternating with CH4 and air demonstrated that Fe2O3/Al2O3 oxygen carrier had excellent reactivity and sintering resistance and consequently was capable of the CLC process.