Performance Analysis of a Calcium Looping Process Integrating Biomass Sorption-Enhanced Gasification with CaCO3-Based Methane Reforming

The growing demand for sustainable energy solutions has led to significant interest in biomass gasification and methane reforming. To address this demand, a novel calcium looping process (CaLP) is proposed, which integrates biomass sorption-enhanced gasification (BSEG) with in situ calcium CaCO3-based methane reforming (CaMR). This process eliminates the need for CaCO3 calcination and facilitates the in situ utilization of CO2. The effects of gasification temperature, steam flowrate into the gasifier αG(H2O/C), reforming temperature, and steam flowrate into the reformer αR(H2O/C) were systematically evaluated. Increasing the gasification temperature from 600 °C to 700 °C enhances CO and H2 yields from 0.653 to 11.699 kmol/h and from 43.999 to 48.536 kmol/h, respectively. However, CaO carbonation weakens, reducing CaO conversion from 79.15% to 48.38% and increasing CO2 release. A higher αG(H2O/C) promotes H2 yield while suppressing CO and CH4 formation. In the CaMR process, raising the temperature from 700 °C to 900 °C improves CH₄ conversion from 64.78% to 81.29%, with a significant increase in CO and H2 production. Furthermore, introducing steam into the reformer enhances H2 production and CH4 conversion, which reaches up to 97.30% at αR(H2O/C) = 0.5. These findings provide valuable insights for optimizing integrated biomass gasification and methane reforming systems.