Chemical Looping Combustion Technologies

A research initiative at Tsinghua University has developed an industrial-scale chemical looping combustion technology that is expected to "help generate clean heat and electricity with near zero emissions." The innovation centers on the metal oxide compound — a perovskite — which functions as an oxygen carrier for chemical looping combustion. Tsinghua University's technological approach is designed for integration into power generation facilities. It utilizes a flameless combustion process that inherently separates carbon dioxide during the reaction. The resulting CO₂ is produced in a highly concentrated stream and avoids the significant energy penalty typically associated with separating the gas from other combustion byproducts in conventional power station flue gases. The key advancement in Tsinghua University's industrial-scale chemical looping combustion technology lies in the scaled production of an affordable and effective oxygen carrier material, which had previously been a barrier to implementing CLC beyond the pilot stage.

Image Credit: