Fluidized Bed Kinetics for Hydrogen Production Through Steam Iron Oxidation

Kinetic analysis is essential for chemical reactor modeling. This study proposes a methodology to use available kinetic analysis methodologies, including conventional (modelistic) graphical representation, isoconversional (model free), models based on first principles and reduced time scale analysis (Sharp and Hancock procedure) to predict the kinetics of an investigated reaction. Even though these methods have some limitations, a methodology comprised of combining their results can help in determining the kinetic parameters for reaction. The isoconversional approach can be used to determine the activation energy without the need of using a reaction model. The modelistic graphical representation can aid is determining the group (i.e. diffusion, first order, phase boundary or nucleation) to which the reaction generally belongs. The reduced time scale analysis can guide in isolating the reaction kinetics in the early stages of the reaction when the conversion ranges between 0.15 and 0.5. This proposed methodology uses the various methods and applies them to experimental data for high temperature reactions in fluidized bed reactors. Particular attention is given to steam driven iron oxidation kinetics for hydrogen production. When only the modelistic approach is used, the activation energy computed using the selected models varies from 59–183 kJ/mol, depending on the model used. However, by combining the predictive capabilities of various approaches discussed in this study, the activation energy range narrows to 80–147 kJ/mol. It is also shown that the iron oxidation with steam under the studied conditions can be described by a combination of two models. The early stage of the reaction is represented by either a contracting volume or first order model. Later stages of reaction can be described by either a contracting volume, first order or 3-D diffusion model. In addition, when analyzing reaction kinetics using a fundamental approach, it is observed that the fluidized bed oxidation reaction of iron with pure steam can be best represented by a combination of two mechanisms, namely shrinking sphere surface area and diffusion controlled mechanisms and the estimated activation energy is 103 kJ/mol.