The effect of microscopic phenomena on the performance of iron-based oxygen carriers of chemical looping hydrogen production
In response to the pressing climate crisis caused by the burning of fossil fuels, the researcher from Institute of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology at Graz University of Technology in collaboration with Dr. Marjan Bele from the Laboratory for Electrocatalysis, Department of Materials Chemistry (D10), have published an article in Applied Catalysis B: Environmental (IF 24.3) on the topic of renewable energy for hydrogen technologies. Their article, titled "The Effect of Microscopic Phenomena on the Performance of Iron-Based Oxygen Carriers for Chemical Looping Hydrogen Production," investigates the role of microscopic factors on the performance of active catalytic systems in the chemical looping process.
The researchers found that monoclinic/tetragonal phase transformation in the ZrO2 support material must be completely avoided due to lattice mismatch for CL hydrogen production in fixed bed systems. Doping with a higher Y2O3 concentration resulted in no visible phase transition and, therefore, exhibited stable performance over 100 cycles. These findings provide new insights into the design of oxygen carriers in chemical looping hydrogen production and allow a better understanding of the influence of microscopic effects on the stability of these carriers.
Fabio Blaschke, Marjan Bele, Brigitte Bitschnau and Viktor Hacker, Applied Catalysis B: Environmental, 2023, 327, 122434