Method and system for performing thermochemical conversion of a carbonaceous feedstock to a reaction product

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10787609-B2
Application number	US-201816193761-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 16, 2018
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Sep 29, 2020
Grant date	Sep 29, 2020

Abstract

The thermochemical conversion of biomass material to one or more reaction products includes generating thermal energy with at least one heat source, providing a volume of feedstock, providing a volume of supercritical fluid, transferring a portion of the generated thermal energy to the volume of supercritical fluid, transferring at least a portion of the generated thermal energy from the volume of supercritical fluid to the volume of feedstock, and performing a thermal decomposition process on the volume of feedstock with the thermal energy transferred from the volume of supercritical fluid to the volume of the feedstock in order to form at least one reaction product.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of pre-treating feedstock prior to thermal decomposition of the feedstock comprising:
heating a first volume of supercritical carbon dioxide to a first temperature;
heating a second volume of supercritical carbon dioxide to a second temperature, the second temperature greater than the first temperature;
providing a feedstock containing at least one impurity to a multi-stage single thermochemical reaction chamber;
extracting some of the at least one impurity from the feedstock in a first reaction chamber of the multi-stage single thermochemical reaction chamber using the first volume of supercritical carbon dioxide at the first temperature; and
after the extracting, performing a thermal decomposition operation on the feedstock in a second reaction chamber of the multi-stage single thermochemical reaction chamber, the thermal decomposition operation performed using the second volume of supercritical carbon dioxide at the second temperature in a reduced oxygen environment.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the feedstock further comprises:
providing feedstock containing at least one impurity selected from one or more of water, oils, lipids, sugars or other oxygenated compounds.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the feedstock further comprises:
providing feedstock containing at least one impurity selected from one or more of the following carbonaceous materials: bituminous coal, sub-bituminous coal, lignite, anthracite, biomass, mixed-source biomaterial, peat, tar, plastic, refuse, and landfill waste.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein heating the first volume of supercritical carbon dioxide to the first temperature further comprises:
heating the first volume of supercritical carbon dioxide to a temperature below 200° C.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein heating the first volume of supercritical carbon dioxide further comprises:
heating the first volume of supercritical carbon dioxide to a temperature between 70-150° C.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein performing the thermal decomposition operation further comprises:
performing a liquefaction operation at a second temperature from 300-500° C.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein
the liquefaction operation is selected from solvolysis, depolymerization, hydrogenolysis, and hydrogenation.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein performing the thermal decomposition operation further comprises:
performing a pyrolysis operation at a temperature of 350-600° C.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein performing the thermal decomposition operating further comprises:
performing a pyrolysis operation.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein performing the thermal decomposition operation further comprises:
performing a pyrolysis operation in an absence of oxygen.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the extracting further comprises:
collecting and storing some of the at least one impurity extracted from the feedstock.

12. A method of drying feedstock prior to thermal decomposition of the feedstock comprising:
providing a first volume of supercritical carbon dioxide;
providing a wet feedstock having a moisture content level;
determining that the wet feedstock has a moisture content level greater than a threshold dryness level;
intermixing the wet feedstock with the first volume of supercritical carbon dioxide in a first reaction chamber of a multi-stage single thermochemical reaction chamber thereby drying the wet feedstock to obtain a dried feedstock;
after the moisture level of the dried feedstock has been dried to or below the threshold dryness level, transferring the dried feedstock from the first reaction chamber chamber;
temperature than the first volume of supercritical carbon dioxide with the dried feedstock in the second reaction chamber; and
performing a thermal decomposition operation in a reduced oxygen environment in the second reaction chamber.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein transferring the dried feedstock from the first reaction chamber further comprises:
transferring the dried feedstock from the first reaction chamber after the dried feedstock reaches 5-15% moisture content by weight.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein intermixing the wet feedstock with the first volume of supercritical carbon dioxide further comprises:
transferring the first volume of supercritical carbon dioxide at a temperature below the liquefaction temperature of 250° C. into the first reaction chamber.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the drying is performed at a temperature below 200° C.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein the thermal decomposition operation further comprises:
performing a liquefaction process at a liquefaction temperature from 300-500° C.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the liquefaction process is selected from solvolysis, depolymerization, hydrogenolysis, and hydrogenation.

18. The method of claim 12 wherein the thermal decomposition operation comprises:
performing a pyrolysis process on the dried feedstock.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein performing a pyrolysis process further comprises:
performing the pyrolysis process in an absence of oxygen.

20. The method of claim 12 wherein the drying includes removing at least one impurity selected from oils, lipids, sugars or other oxygenated compounds.

21. The method of claim 12 wherein the feedstock includes one or more of the following carbonaceous materials: bituminous coal, sub-bituminous coal, lignite, anthracite, biomass, mixed-source biomaterial, peat, tar, plastic, refuse, and landfill waste.

22. The method of claim 12 further comprising:
monitoring the moisture level of the dried feedstock to determine when the dried feedstock is at or below the threshold dryness level.

Assignees

• Terrapower Llc
• Univ Washington State

Inventors

• Garcia-Perez Manuel
• Walter Joshua C

Classifications

• Y02P20/54

  using solvents, e.g. supercritical solvents or ionic liquids · CPC title

• C10J2300/0969

  Carbon dioxide · CPC title

• C10G1/008 Primary

  Controlling or regulating of liquefaction processes · CPC title

• C10G1/02

  by distillation · CPC title