Modeling of a Countercurrent Regenerative Chemical Looping Reactor for the Reverse Water-Gas Shift Reaction

Synthetic liquid fuels offer a promising pathway to develop drop-in solutions in the aviation and maritime industries. The chemical looping reverse water gas shift (RWGS) reaction provides a promising solution by enabling syngas composition tuning through inherent product separation and significantly higher conversion fractions compared to conventional catalytic RWGS processes. This work presents a one-dimensional transient model to evaluate the performance of the chemical looping RWGS process using an isothermal packed bed reactor. The analysis includes parameters such as RWGS cycle efficiency, reactor power density, cycle times, and conversion extents. The results offer valuable insights into potential operating ranges and highlight opportunities for cost optimization, emphasizing that temperature and pressure are key to improving both cycle efficiency and reactor power density. The model demonstrates that conversion extents exceeding 99% are achievable across all relevant temperatures, while small space times and packed beds with higher void fractions contribute to shorter cycle times and higher reactor power densities. Furthermore, the findings underscore the potential for optimizing operating conditions to enhance process performance and achieve cost-effective renewable fuel production.