Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol.51, No.20, 7013-7021, 2012
Thermally Driven Copper Oxide Redox Cycle for the Separation of Oxygen from Gases
The copper(I) oxide (Cu2O)/copper(II) oxide (CuO) redox thermochemical cycle is thermodynamically and experimentally examined as means for removal of oxygen from dilute gas streams. The thermal energy required for removal of oxygen from a 1% O-2-Ar gas mixture is estimated to range from 545 to 2121 kJ/mol O-2. Temperatures as high as 1350 K imposed by this thermochemical cycle offer potential for using concentrated solar energy as the source of process heat. The kinetics of the redox reactions and their cycle-to-cycle repeatability were investigated by therrnogravimetry. Laboratory scale packed bed reactor tests have pointed out the bulk shrinking of the packing during the initial high temperature cycles as a cause of gas bypassing that may have adverse effects on the reactor contacting efficiency.