Corrosion reduction for supercritical water gasification through seeded sacrificial metal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9732292-B2
Application number	US-201314767188-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 20, 2013
Priority date	Mar 20, 2013
Publication date	Aug 15, 2017
Grant date	Aug 15, 2017

Abstract

Technologies are presented for reducing corrosion M supercritical water gasification through seeded sacrificial metal particles. The metal panicles may be seeded into one or more material input streams through high pressure injection. Once distributed in the SCWG reactor, the metal particles may corrode preferentially to the metal SCWG reactor walls and convert into metal oxides that precipitate out above the supercritical point of water. The precipitated metal oxides may then be collected downstream of the SCWG reactor to be reprocessed back into seed metal at a smelter. The seeded metal particles may complete a process material cycle with limited net additional waste.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method to reduce corrosion in supercritical water gasification, wherein the method comprises:
selecting a composition that comprises metal particles based on a chemical composition of reactants within a supercritical water gasification (SCWG) reactor;
seeding one or more material input streams with the selected composition that comprises the metal particles and injecting the seeded one or more material input streams into the SCWG reactor, wherein the metal particles are more electronegative and corrode to metal oxides preferentially than metal of SCWG reactor walls and precipitate above a supercritical point; and
collecting the metal oxides from the SCWG reactor.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
collecting the metal oxides downstream of the SCWG reactor.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
reprocessing the collected metal oxides into the metal particles at a smelter.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
distributing the metal particles within the SCWG reactor after the seeding and prior to collecting to ensure substantially even protection against corrosion of the SCWG reactor walls.

5. The Method of claim 1 , fi ether comprising:
selecting the composition that comprises the metal particles prior to the seeding to reduce corrosion in one or more pumps feeding the SCWG reactor.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting the metal particles from two or more distinct metals with different oxidation properties prior to the seeding.

7. A supercritical water gasification (SCWG) reactor system with corrosion reduction, wherein the SCWG reactor system comprises:
a SCWG reactor configured to heat a mixture that includes water above a supercritical point;
a first input configured to provide the mixture to the SCWG reactor;
a second input configured to provide water to the SCWG reactor;
an output configured to retrieve a reaction mixture out of the SCWG reactor, wherein one or more of the first and second inputs are further configured to seed one or more of first or second input streams with a composition that comprises metal particles, wherein the metal particles are more electronegative and corrode to metal oxides preferentially than metal of SCWG reactor walls and precipitate above the supercritical point; and
one or more collection modules configured to collect the metal oxides from the SCWG reactor.

8. The SCWG reactor system of claim 7 , wherein the metal particles are distributed within the SCWG reactor after seeding and prior to collecting to ensure substantially even protection against corrosion on the SCWG reactor walls.

9. The SCWG reactor system of claim 7 , wherein the composition of the metal particles is selected prior to seeding based on a chemical composition of reactants within the SCWG reactor.

10. The SCWG reactor system of claim 7 , wherein the composition of the metal particles is selected prior to seeding to reduce corrosion in one or more pumps feeding the SCWG reactor.

11. The SCWG reactor system of claim 7 , wherein the metal particles are selected from two or more distinct metals with different oxidation properties prior to seeding.

12. A supercritical water gasification (SCWG) reactor system with corrosion reduction, wherein the SCWG reactor system comprises:
a SCWG reactor;
a controller of the SCWG reactor;
one or more injection modules coupled to one or more material input streams of the SCWG reactor and at least one retrieval module coupled to an output stream of the SCWG reactor, wherein the controller of the SCWG reactor manages:
the one or more injection modules configured to:
select a composition of metal particles to reduce corrosion in one or more pumps feeding the SCWG reactor,
maximize surface area of the metal particles,
seed the metal particles, wherein the metal particles are more electronegative and corrode to metal oxides preferentially than metal of SCWG reactor walls and precipitate above a supercritical point; and

the at least one retrieval module configured to:
collect the metal oxides from the SCWG reactor continuously or over one or more periods.

13. The SCWG reactor system of claim 12 , wherein the at least one retrieval module is further configured to:
collect the metal particles downstream of the SCWG reactor.

14. The SCWG reactor system of claim 12 , further comprising
a reprocessing module configured to:
reprocess the collected metal oxides into the metal particles.

15. The SCWG reactor system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more injection modules are further configured to:
distribute the metal particles within the SCWG reactor after seeding and prior to collecting to ensure substantially even protection against corrosion on the SCWG reactor walls.

16. The SCWG reactor system of claim 15 , wherein the one or more injection modules are further configured to:
distribute the metal particles within the SCWG reactor after seeding and prior to collecting through high pressure injection into the one or more material input streams.

17. The SCWG reactor system of claim 15 , wherein the one or more injection modules are further configured to:
develop a vortex within the SCWG reactor.

18. The SCWG reactor system of claim 12 , wherein the one or more injection modules are further configured to:
select the composition of the metal particles prior to seeding based on a chemical composition of reactants within the SCWG reactor.

19. The SCWG reactor system of claim 12 , wherein the surface areas of the metal particles is substantially maximized prior to seeding.

20. The SCWG of claim 12 , wherein the one or more injection modules are further configured to:
select the metal particles from two or more distinct metals with different oxidation properties prior to seeding.

Assignees

• Empire Technology Dev Llc

Inventors

• Adam Quentin Arthur Carl

Classifications

• C10J3/00 Primary

  Production of combustible gases containing carbon monoxide from solid carbonaceous fuels (destructive distillation processes C10B) · CPC title

• C10J2300/1853

  Steam reforming, i.e. injection of steam only · CPC title

• C10J2300/0916

  Biomass · CPC title

• C10J3/723 Primary

  Controlling or regulating the gasification process · CPC title

• C10J2300/0979

  as supercritical steam · CPC title