The UK demonstration of enhanced Calcium Looping and first global demonstration of advanced doping techniques is improving the performance of Calcium looping by testing doped-materials at pilot scale.

Key Facts

    • The enhanced sorbent was tested successfully in Cranfield’s 25 kWth pilot plant
    • The viability of producing cement with spent sorbent from the calcium looping process has been assessed at larger scale
    • This two-year project is part of an ongoing research collaboration between Imperial College of London and Cranfield University

Impact of our research

This project allowed us to explore the use of enhanced Ca looping using HBr. These materials were tested for the first time in a large-scale plant - Cranfield’s 25 kWth interconnected fluidised-bed unit - which is a major advancement for the development of enhanced sorbents. Moreover, it was demonstrated that it has no deleterious effect when used in conjunction with either cement manufacture or CO2 removal from a blast furnace.

Why the research was commissioned

The feasibility of the calcium looping technology is greatly influenced by the reactivity of the material used to remove the CO2 from the flue gas. This reactivity decreases significantly in natural materials with calcination/carbonation cycles; therefore, it is necessary to add fresh material to the system to account for this loss in reactivity. Synthetic and enhanced materials have been proposed as an alternative for natural materials due to their higher CO2 uptake during carbonation/calcination cycles. Nonetheless, further experimental work needs to be performed in order to assess their suitability for large scale plants.

Why Cranfield?

The Centre for Combustion, Carbon Capture and Storage has extensive experience with calcium looping, with the two largest plants of its kind in the UK; the 25 kWth and the 50 kWth interconnected fluidised-bed systems. Moreover, the group has vast experience with the production, characterisation and testing of natural, enhanced and synthetic materials for calcium looping and chemical looping combustion technologies.

Facilities used

  • 25 kWth pilot plant comprising a circulating fluidised bed and a bubbling fluidised bed
  • 50 kWth pilot plant comprising two interconnected circulating fluidised beds 


    • Related Content:

    UKCCS Research Centre