K2CO3/Al2O3 for Capturing CO2 in Flue Gas from Power Plants. Part 4: Abrasion Characteristics of the K2CO3/Al2O3 Sorbent

K2CO3/Al2O3 used for capturing CO2 in flue gas is thoroughly investigated. This paper focuses on the abrasion characteristics of K2CO3/Al2O3 particles. The attrition index for K2CO3/Al2O3 is only 1.54%. In comparison to the K2CO3/activated carbon particles, the elutriation amount and the rate of the particle size change are much lower for K2CO3/Al2O3 in the same operating conditions, and they are in the range from 0.1 to 2.9% and from 1.5 x 10(-3) to 15.1 x 10(-3) mm/h, respectively, when the abrasion tests for K2CO3/Al2O3 are carried out in various conditions. In comparison to other variables, the temperature change is the most important variable for abrasion. The elutriation amount decreases when the carbonation reaction is carried out. The rate of change in particle size increases with the increase of the fluidization number, temperature, mean particle size, and loading amount but decreases with the increase of the operation time and chemical reaction cycle number. The elutriation amount increases when the aforementioned variables increase to a high value. The sorbent of K2CO3/Al2O3 shows excellent attrition-resistance performance.