Application of a novel calcium looping process for production of heat and carbon dioxide enrichment of greenhouses

Abstract Greenhouses typically employ conventional burner systems to suffice heat and carbon dioxide required for plant growth. The energy requirement and carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel burner are generally high. As an alternative, this paper describes a novel greenhouse calcium looping process which is expected to decrease the energy requirements and associated carbon dioxide emissions. The conceptual design of greenhouse calcium looping process is carried out in the ASPEN Plus v 7.3 simulator. In a greenhouse calcium looping process, the calcination reaction is considered to take place during day time in order to provide the required optimum carbon dioxide between 1000 and 2000 ppm, while the carbonation reaction is occurred during night time to provide required heat. The process simulations carried out in ASPEN indicates that greenhouse calcium looping process theoretically attributes to zero emission of carbon dioxide. Moreover, in a scenario modelling study compared to the conventional natural gas burner system, the heat duty requirements in the greenhouse calcium looping process were found to reduce by as high as 72%.