Application of chemical looping and its integration with non-thermal plasma in carbon capture and green ammonia production

Guest Speaker：Assistant Professor Yaoyao Zheng，University of Nottingham， UK

Inviter: Assoc. Prof. Zhigang Hu

Date&Time: Thursday, 26.Dec., 14:00-15:30

Venue: Meeting Room 308, Xu Zuyao Building

Biography:

Dr Yaoyao Zheng is currently an Anne McLaren Fellow and Assistant Professor at the University of Nottingham (UoN), leading several green ammonia production projects funded by the Royal Society and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Her research focuses on clean energy technologies based on solid-gas reactions and catalysis, particularly the applications of chemical looping in areas such as carbon capture, gas purification, hydrogen production, and ammonia synthesis. Prior to joining UoN, Dr Zheng pursued her PhD and postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Professors Stuart A. Scott and John Dennis, concentrating on chemical looping technology. She pioneered the integration of chemical looping with non-thermal plasma to achieve efficient low-temperature hydrogen production. In collaboration with the UK company Gas Recovery and Recycle Limited, She played a key role in developing NitroO and ArgonO devices based on chemical looping combustion and separation. These devices have now been widely used for argon recovery and reuse in the solar industry, saving approximately 100 million RMB in annual production costs. Beyond chemical looping research, she has also investigated combustion in fluidised beds, such as the combustion of liquid fuels like glycerol.

Abstract:

Chemical looping (CL) is traditionally applied to the combustion field, commonly known as chemical looping combustion (CLC), and serves as a carbon capture and storage technology. The redox properties of solid oxygen carriers, typically transition metal oxides (e.g. Fe2O3, CuO, NiO) or mixed oxides (e.g. SrFeO3-d), can be used to split the overall fuel conversion into separate steps, allowing inherent CO2 capture and independent control of each reaction step. Beyond power generation, CL using oxygen carriers can be applied to e.g. H2 production, air separation, and gas purification. More recently, CL has been extended to other applications such as direct CO2 capture from steel manufacturing and ammonia synthesis. These advancements involve the looping of not only oxygen but also nitrogen and CO2. This talk will cover the topics on various innovative applications of CL. It will also highlight her pioneering work of integration of CL with non-thermal plasma, which enables alternative reaction pathways and ultimately helps lower the energy barriers.