System and method for thermocatalytic treatment of material and pyrolysis oil produced therewith

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10414987-B2
Application number	US-201515301569-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 14, 2015
Priority date	Apr 15, 2014
Publication date	Sep 17, 2019
Grant date	Sep 17, 2019

Abstract

Systems and methods for thermocatalytic treatment of material are provided. The system can have a charging region to supply starting material, a preconditioning zone in which preconditioned material is formed from the starting material, a pyrolysis zone in which pyrolyzed material is formed from the preconditioned material, and a separation unit for separation of the pyrolyzed material. In the preconditioning zone and the pyrolysis zone, a heater can be provided for heating of the material. Also provided in the pyrolysis zone are recirculation means with which a solid portion of the pyrolyzed material can be recirculated directly into the region of the pyrolysis zone facing toward the preconditioning zone.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system for thermocatalytic treatment of material, the system comprising:
a charging region for supplying a starting material to be treated;
a preconditioning zone in which preconditioned material is formed from the starting material;
a pyrolysis zone in which pyrolysed material is formed from the preconditioned material; and
a separation unit for separation of the obtained pyrolysed material,
wherein in the preconditioning zone, a heater is provided for heating of the starting material to a temperature of at least 150° C., and wherein in the pyrolysis zone, a recirculation means is provided, and the heater is also for additional heating of the preconditioned material in the pyrolysis zone to a temperature of at least 350° C., and wherein with the recirculation means, a solid portion of at least the pyrolysed material is recirculatable at least partly and directly into a region of the pyrolysis zone facing toward the preconditioning zone so that the recirculation means comes into direct contact with the recirculated solid portion of pyrolysed material and the preconditioned material to be pyrolysed.

2. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the recirculation means are provided at least in the region of the pyrolysis zone facing toward the preconditioning zone such that a thorough mixing of pyrolysed material and preconditioned material is possible.

3. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the recirculation means in the pyrolysis zone are configured to affect the dwell time of the material to be pyrolysed in the pyrolysis zone.

4. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the system is operable in a first operating state and in a second operating state, wherein in the first operating state, the preconditioned material moves forward, and any material present in the pyrolysis zone is advanced essentially in a direction of the separation unit, and in the second operating state, essentially solely recirculation of pyrolysed material into the region of the pyrolysis zone facing toward the preconditioning zone occurs.

5. The system according to claim 1 , wherein inert gas supply lines are provided in the charging region and/or in the preconditioning zone.

6. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the preconditioning zone and pyrolysis zone merge into one another and are arranged in a tubular reactor.

7. The system according to claim 1 , wherein between the pyrolysis zone and the separation unit there is disposed a post-conditioning zone for refinement of the pyrolysed material, wherein in the post-conditioning zone the heater is further configured to increase or to maintain the temperature of at least the solid portion of the pyrolysed material.

8. The system according to claim 1 , wherein conveyance means for transporting the starting material to the pyrolysis zone are provided at least in the preconditioning zone.

9. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the conveyance means comprises a worm screw, a worm screw arranged on a shaft, or a belt conveyor.

10. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the recirculation means are arranged on a shaft and/or on a reactor interior wall of the pyrolysis zone.

11. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the recirculation means comprise back-mixing worm screw elements, contrarotating worm screw elements, recirculation bars and/or recirculation hooks.

12. The system according to claim 1 , wherein the longitudinal axis of the pyrolysis zone in respect to a horizontal plane is inclined at an angle of 0° to 45°.

13. A method for thermocatalytic treatment of material, the method comprising:
preconditioning, in a preconditioning zone, a starting material by heating the starting material to a temperature of at least 150° C., wherein preconditioned material is formed by the preconditioning;
pyrolysing the preconditioned material essentially in the absence of oxygen in a pyrolysis zone, wherein the preconditioned material is heated to a temperature of 250° C. to 700° C., wherein the dwell time in the pyrolysis zone of the material being pyrolysed is in a range from one minute up to one hour, and pyrolysed material is formed,
wherein the pyrolysing comprises directly returning pyrolysed material continuously or semi-continuously into a region of the pyrolysis zone facing toward the preconditioning zone, wherein mixing of the pyrolysed material with the preconditioned material takes place at least in the region of the pyrolysis zone facing toward the preconditioning zone, and the pyrolysed material comes into direct contact with the preconditioned material to be pyrolysed; and
separating the pyrolysed material in a separation unit.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the pyrolysing the preconditioned material is carried out such that in a first operating state, advance of the preconditioned material into the pyrolysis zone takes place, and material present in the pyrolysis zone is advanced essentially in a direction of the separation unit, and in a second operating state, no advance of the preconditioned material into the pyrolysis zone takes place and essentially recirculation of pyrolysed material into the region of the pyrolysis zone facing toward the preconditioning zone takes place.

15. The method according to claim 13 further comprising, between the pyrolysing the preconditioned material and the separating the pyrolyzed material:
post-conditioning at least a solid portion of the pyrolysed material in a post-conditioning zone at a temperature of 350° C. to 800° C.

16. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the starting material includes at least one of the following chemical elements at least in trace amounts in elementary, ionic, or bonded form:
Zinc, iron, platinum, rhenium, chromium, copper, manganese, nickel, titanium, aluminum, or silicon.

17. The method according to claim 13 , wherein material with a water content of greater than 10 wt % is used as the starting material.

18. The method according to claim 13 , wherein in the pyrolysing the preconditioned material in the pyrolysis zone, a heating rate of 1 to 10° C./s is used.

19. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the starting material has an average particle size of greater than 1 mm.

20. The method according to claim 13 , wherein pyrolysis oil is obtained by the method, and wherein the starting material comprises a biogenic material selected from the group consisting of a cellulose-containing material, a product containing manure, and a clarified sludge.

21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the pyrolysis oil has a water content of less than 2 wt % and an acid number of less than 4 mg KOH/g.

Assignees

• Fraunhofer Ges Forschung

Inventors

• Binder Samir
• Jakuttis Michael
• Apfelbacher Andreas
• Hornung Andreas

Classifications

• C10G1/10

  from rubber or rubber waste · CPC title

• C10B53/00

  Destructive distillation, specially adapted for particular solid raw materials or solid raw materials in special form (wet carbonising of peat C10F) · CPC title

• C10B7/10 Primary

  with conveyor-screws · CPC title

• C10G2300/4081

  Recycling aspects · CPC title

• C10G2300/1003

  Waste materials · CPC title