Prof. Liang-Shih Fan, from the The Ohio State University, visited our lab today. He gave an IRCE2 Lecture named Metal Oxide Reaction Engineering and Chemical Looping Technology for Fossil Energy Conversion。

Metal oxide composites are enabling materials in a variety of energy conversion systems such as solid oxide fuel cells, ionic transport membranes, solar cells, batteries, light emitting diodes and photocatalysis. The metal oxides in reactions are closely governed by their chemical and physical property variations that can be reflected by the electron, ion, and defect transport and the morphology and crystal structure transformation. In this presentation, I will elucidate the general properties of metal oxide materials for emerging technology applications. The macro-, micro-, and nano-scale characteristics of the metal oxide composites during redox conditions will be given. Of particular interest are the metal oxide redox mechanisms revealed from microscopy, X-ray diffractometry and spectroscopy measurements coupled with the atomistic thermodynamics and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. A unique metal oxide reaction engineering application to a novel chemical looping technology platform is highlighted that employs iron-titanium composite materials as oxygen carrier particles to produce syngas, chemicals and liquid fuels using carbonaceous feedstock, while capturing CO2. I will elaborate the evolution process of the scale-up of this technology platform which involves extensive applications of particle science and technology principles for metal oxide particle synthesis, bench and sub-pilot scale reactor design, and pilot scale plant demonstration. I will also discuss the chemical looping process economics and efficiency along with the timing for its commercial deployment.

Here are some pictures: