Processing materials

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10035958-B2
Application number	US-201715451166-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 6, 2017
Priority date	Oct 28, 2008
Publication date	Jul 31, 2018
Grant date	Jul 31, 2018

Abstract

Biomass (e.g., plant biomass, animal biomass, and municipal waste biomass) is processed to produce useful products, such as fuels. For example, systems are described that can use feedstock materials, such as cellulosic and/or lignocellulosic materials and/or starchy materials, to produce ethanol and/or butanol, e.g., by fermentation. Hydrocarbon-containing materials are also used as feedstocks.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of processing a hydrocarbon-containing material, the method comprising: irradiating, with an ion beam comprising accelerated charged particles having energies of from 1 to 6000 MeV/atomic unit, a combination formed by combining the hydrocarbon-containing material with an inorganic material, to produce an irradiated combination, wherein the hydrocarbon-containing material is coal and the inorganic material comprises a ceramic.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the hydrocarbon-containing material comprises a solid, particulate, powder, liquid, gas or a combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrocarbon-containing material is combined with the inorganic material by dry blending or co-comminuting.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein during co-comminuting, each of the hydrocarbon-containing material and the inorganic material is cooled to a temperature below 25° C.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein during co-comminuting, each of the hydrocarbon-containing material and the inorganic material is cooled to a temperature below 0° C.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ceramic is selected from the group consisting of oxides, carbides, borides, nitrides, silicides and kaolins.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic material comprises water that is capable of leaving the inorganic material at elevated temperatures.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic material does not have a melting point.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic material has a melting point of greater than about 400° C.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic material has a specific heat capacity of less than about 1.5 J/g K.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic material has a conductivity of between about 0.004 W/m·K and about 450 W/m·K.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic material has a density of greater than about 1.5 g per cubic centimeter.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic material comprises particles having an average particle size of from about 0.1 micron to about 100 microns.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the combination includes about 0.05 to about 35 percent by weight inorganic material.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, after irradiating the combination, converting the irradiated hydrocarbon-containing material in the irradiated combination to a product using an enzyme and/or a microorganism.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising removing the inorganic material from the irradiated combination.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising subjecting the irradiated combination to catalytic cracking.

18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising refining the hydrocarbon-containing material.

19. The method of claim 1 , further comprising extracting a hydrocarbon from the irradiated combination, producing an extracted hydrocarbon.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein a lower molecular weight hydrocarbon component is produced in the irradiated combination from a higher molecular weight hydrocarbon component in the hydrocarbon-containing material.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the lower molecular weight hydrocarbon is selected from the group consisting of methane, ethane, propane, hexane and mixtures thereof.

22. The method of claim 1 , further comprising subjecting the hydrocarbon-containing material to catalytic cracking.

23. The method of claim 1 , further comprising subjecting the hydrocarbon-containing material to alkylation.

24. The method of claim 1 , further comprising refining the irradiated combination.

25. The method of claim 1 , wherein the accelerated charged particles have energies of from 10 to 1000 MeV/atomic unit.

Assignees

• Xyleco Inc

Inventors

• Medoff Marshall

Classifications

• C10G1/04

  by extraction · CPC title

• C10G32/00

  Refining of hydrocarbon oils by electric or magnetic means, by irradiation, or by using microorganisms · CPC title

• C10G2300/1011

  Biomass · CPC title

• C10G32/04 Primary

  by particle radiation · CPC title

• C10G15/10 Primary

  by particle radiation · CPC title