Kinetic study of CO₂ reaction with CaO by a modified random pore model

In this work, a modified random pore model was developed to study the kinetics of the carbonation reaction of CaO. Pore size distributions of the CaO pellets were measured by nitrogen adsorption and mercury porosimetry methods. The experiments were carried out in a thermogravimeter at different isothermal temperatures and CO₂ partial pressures. A fractional concentration dependency function showed the best accuracy for predicting the intrinsic rate of reaction. The activation energy was determined as 11 kcal/mole between 550–700°C. The effect of product layer formation was also taken into account by using the variable product layer diffusivity. Also, the model was successfully predicted the natural lime carbonation reaction data extracted from the literature.