Effect of calcination condition on the performance of iron ore in chemical-looping combustion

The calcination of oxygen carrier is the essential step prior to its application in chemical looping combustion, which is significantly influenced by calcination conditions. In this study, a natural iron ore was treated under the combined effect of three key calcination parameters (heating rate, temperature, and duration time). The reactivity performance of calcined iron ores was evaluated with CO as fuel, and the iron ore with the best performance and the parameter with the greatest impact were screened. The results showed that the iron ores treated under different calcination conditions showed evident difference in their reactivity, in which calcination temperature showed the biggest impact on the physicochemical properties of fresh iron ore. The best calcined iron ore was obtained under the heating rate of 15 degrees C/min, the temperature of 1050 degrees C, and the duration time of 60 min within the selection limits of three calcination parameters, and its cyclic test showed that the maintained good physical structure of best calcined iron ore guaranteed it against the reactivity decay, a stable recyclability performance was achieved during the consecutive redox cycles. The findings in this study could provide a reference for the further optimization of calcination parameters suitable for commercial oxygen carriers.