Performance of Na-Ru/Al2O3 dual function material for integrated CO2 capture and methanation with the presence of coal ashes

Integrated Capture and Methanation of CO 2 (ICCM) with H 2 produced from renewable energy is a novel Power-to-Gas technology. The combination of ICCM with CO 2 point source, such as coal-fired power plant, is anticipated, which greatly motivates the investigations into the influences of coal ash on the key performance of dual function material (DFM) used in ICCM process. Via the experimental study on the coal ash impacts, this work explored the adaptability of DFM and ICCM to coal-fired power plant. Na-Ru/Al 2 O 3 DFM and two ashes collected from the electrical precipitators of supercritical coal-fired power plants were used for experiments. It showed that fly ashes contaminated CO 2 adsorbents and active sites of DFMs, and caused successive drops in carbonates conversion and CH 4 selectivity upon cyclic ICCM reactions. The CO 2 -TPD and H 2 -TPSR tests revealed that the declined supply   capability of hydrogen atoms by Ru sites, and the increased rate gap between CO formation and the following CO hydrogenation were responsible for the declined methanation ability of ash-contaminated DFMs. The roles of SiO 2 and Fe 2 O 3 phases in ashes were identified, indicating that SiO 2 reacted with adsorbent components and masked Ru sites, and then induced DFM deactivation by affecting the transport processes of key reactants; Fe 2 O 3 successively invaded both Ru sites and Na 2 CO 3 /γ-Al 2 O 3 interface, leading to successive losses in methanation ability and CO 2 desorption capacity with cyclic ICCM reactions.