Enhanced Temperature Cycling of Particulate Reactors with Volumetric Induction Heating

Abstract

The temperature cycling of reactor systems with solid particles is foundational to many processes in the chemicals industry. We present a clean energy platform for gas–solid temperature cycling based on induction heating, in which an open-cell metamaterial baffle loaded with solid particulates is internally heated in a volumetric, efficient, and fast manner. This platform offers flexible configurability, including operation as a fluidized or fixed-bed reactor at different stages of the temperature cycling process, where the baffle prevents bubble coalition during fluidized bed operation. We consider solid sorbents for carbon dioxide capture as a model system, and we demonstrate adsorption in a temperature-stabilized fluidized-bed mode and high-speed regeneration in a fixed-bed mode. Electrified temperature cycling with magnetic induction is scalable, and we anticipate its adaptation to a wide range of chemical conversion and separation processes.