System and process for production of biofuel

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10329494-B2
Application number	US-201615760509-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 23, 2016
Priority date	Sep 24, 2015
Publication date	Jun 25, 2019
Grant date	Jun 25, 2019

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a system and a process for producing biofuel. The system comprises at least one feed tank; a low pressure pump; a high pressure pump; a first heat exchanger; a second heat exchanger; a reaction vessel; a precipitation vessel; a first pressure let-down station; a third heat exchanger; a second pressure let-down station; a gas-liquid separator; and a biofuel separator. The process comprises pressurizing and heating a feed, followed by reforming the pressurized and heated feed to obtain a slurry. The solids are separated from the slurry by precipitation to obtain a mixture comprising biofuel and the non-reformed feed. The mixture is then cooled and de-pressurized, followed by separation of gases and the non-reformed feed to obtain the biofuel. The system and process of the present disclosure can be used to produce biofuel from diverse, easily available and inexpensive starting material.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for producing biofuel, said system comprising:
at least one feed tank adapted for receiving and storing a feed;
a low pressure pump adapted for:
pressurizing said feed up to 100 bar to obtain a first pressurized feed; and
recirculating at least a portion (a) of said first pressurized feed to and from said at least one feed tank;

a high pressure pump adapted for:
receiving said first pressurized feed from said low pressure pump; and
increasing the pressure of said first pressurized feed up to 250 bar to obtain a second pressurized feed;

a first heat exchanger adapted for:
receiving said second pressurized feed from said high pressure pump; and
pre-heating said second pressurized feed to a temperature in the range of 200° C. to 290° C. to obtain a pre-heated feed;

a second heat exchanger adapted for:
receiving said pre-heated feed from said first heat exchanger; and
further heating said pre-heated feed to a temperature in the range of 291° C. to 400° C. to obtain a heated feed;

a reaction vessel adapted for:
receiving said heated feed from said second heat exchanger; and
reforming said heated feed for a time period in the range of 10 minutes to 60 minutes to obtain a slurry comprising solids, biofuel, and non-reformed feed;

a precipitation vessel adapted for:
receiving said slurry from said reaction vessel; and
separating the solids (b) from said slurry to obtain a liquid mixture comprising biofuel and non-reformed feed having a temperature greater than 300° C.,
wherein said liquid mixture from said precipitation vessel is re-circulated to said first heat exchanger for pre-heating said second pressurized feed, thereby cooling said liquid mixture to a temperature below 300° C. to obtain an intermediate cooled liquid mixture;

a first pressure let-down station, adapted for:
receiving said intermediate cooled liquid mixture from said first heat exchanger; and
reducing the pressure of said intermediate cooled liquid mixture in the range of 5 bar to 20 bar, to obtain a de-pressurized liquid mixture;

a third heat exchanger adapted for:
receiving said de-pressurized liquid mixture from said first pressure let-down station; and
reducing the temperature of said de-pressurized liquid mixture to a temperature in the range of 30° C. to 100° C. to obtain a cooled liquid mixture having a pressure in the range of 5 bar to 20 bar;

a second pressure let-down station adapted for
receiving said cooled liquid mixture from said third heat exchanger; and
reducing the pressure of said cooled liquid mixture below 5 bar, to obtain a gas-liquid mixture comprising gases and a mixture comprising biofuel and non-reformed feed;

a gas-liquid separator adapted for:
receiving said gas-liquid mixture from said second pressure let-down station; and
separating gases from said gas-liquid mixture to obtain a mixture comprising biofuel and non-reformed feed; and

a biofuel separator adapted for:
receiving said mixture comprising biofuel and non-reformed feed from said gas-liquid separator; and
separating the non-reformed feed from said mixture to obtain the biofuel.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a process tank wherein said process tank is adapted to receive, store, and circulate a feed in said at least one feed tank, and wherein said feed is selected from the group consisting of biomass slurry, sludge and wastewater.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said at least one feed tank comprises at least one agitator, a level controller, and at least one atmospheric vent.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said precipitation vessel comprises at least one filter.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said first heat exchanger, said second heat exchanger and said third heat exchanger is a shell and tube heat exchanger.

6. The system as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the type of shell and tube heat exchanger is at least one selected from the group consisting of hair-pin type heat exchanger, dimple-tube type heat exchanger, corrugated tube type heat exchanger, and twisted tube type heat exchanger.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1 , said reaction vessel is at least one of a plug flow reactor (PFR) and a continuous stirred tank reactor (CSTR).

8. The system as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
a non-reformed feed storage tank adapted for receiving said non-reformed feed from said biofuel separator and storing said non-reformed feed therein; and
a biofuel storage tank adapted for receiving the bio-fuel from said biofuel separator and storing said bio-fuel therein.

9. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said second pressurized feed and said pre-heated feed are allowed to pass through a plurality of tubes of said first heat exchanger and second heat exchanger respectively.

10. The process as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a fluid stream having a temperature above 400° C. is allowed to pass through the shell of said first heat exchanger and second heat exchanger respectively for heating said second pressurized feed and said pre-heated feed respectively.

11. A process for producing biofuel from a feed using the system, wherein said process comprises the following steps:
a) collecting feed into at least one feed tank;
b) pressurizing said feed up to 100 bar to obtain a first pressurized fluid;
c) recirculating at least a portion of said first pressurized feed into at least one feed tank;
d) increasing the pressure of the remaining portion of said first pressurized feed up to 250 bar to obtain a second pressurized feed;
e) pre-heating said second pressurized feed to a temperature in the range of 200° C. to 290° C. to obtain a pre-heated feed;
f) further heating said pre-heated feed to a temperature in the range of 291° C. to 400° C. to obtain a heated feed;
g) introducing said heated feed into a reaction vessel and reforming said heated feed for a time period in the range of 10 minutes to 60 minutes to obtain a slurry comprising solids, biofuel, and non-reformed feed;
h) separating said solids from said slurry to obtain a liquid mixture comprising biofuel and non-reformed feed having a temperature greater than 300° C., wherein said liquid mixture is re-circulated for pre-heating said second pressurized feed, thereby cooling said liquid mixture to a temperature below 300° C. to obtain an intermediate cooled liquid mixture;
i) reducing the pressure of said intermediate cooled liquid mixture in the range of 5 bar to 20 bar to obtain a de-pressurized liquid mixture;
j) reducing the temperature of said de-pressurized liquid to a temperature in the range of 30° C. to 100° C. to obtain a cooled liquid mixture;
k) reducing the pressure of said cooled liquid mixture to below 5 bar, to obtain a gas-liquid mixture comprising gases and a mixture comprising biofuel and non-reformed feed;
l) separating the gases from said gas-liquid mixture to obtain a mixture comprising biofuel and non-reformed feed; and
m) separating the non-reformed feed from said mixture to obtain the biofuel.

12. The process as claimed in claim 11 , wherein said feed is at least one selected from the group consisting of biomass slurry, sludge and wastewater.

Assignees

• Reliance Industries Ltd

Inventors

• Bhujade Ramesh
• Ghadge Rajaram Shrimant
• Bahekar Roshni Krishnarao
• Gupta Somesh
• Nagwani Nitin
• Jain Piyush
• Saxena Nikhlesh
• Konakandla Pavan Kumar

Classifications

• C10L1/02

  essentially based on components consisting of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen only · CPC title

• C10G2300/1011

  Biomass · CPC title

• C10G3/40 Primary

  Thermal non-catalytic treatment · CPC title

• Y02P30/20

  using bio-feedstock · CPC title

• C10G2300/1003

  Waste materials · CPC title