Patent ID: 9126173
Filing Date: 2015-09-08
Classification: B01J,C07C,C10G,C10J,C10L,D21B,Y02E,Y02P

Abstract:
1. An integrated plant configured to generate a syngas and make use of the syngas to generate a fuel, comprising: a thermal pretreatment unit that includes a source of biomass, a source of steam, an input cavity configured to receive biomass as a feedstock from the source of biomass, the biomass having a plurality of cellulose fibers, a steam supply input configured to receive steam from the source of steam, and two or more stages operably coupled with each other, where the steam supply input is coupled to the two or more stages, where the two or more stages are configured to pretreat the biomass for subsequent supply to a biomass gasifier operably coupled downstream from an exit of the stages, where the stages are configured to pretreat the received biomass by applying a combination of heat, pressure, moisture, and mechanical agitation to make the received biomass into a pulp form, where the thermal pretreatment unit is configured to at least partially break down a bulk structure of the received biomass by applying steam from the steam supply input to degrade bonds of the received biomass between a lignin component and a hemi-cellulose component from the plurality of cellulose fibers in order to produce particles of biomass from the exit of the two or more stages of the thermal pretreatment unit; and where the biomass gasifier includes a reactor configured to react the particles of the biomass broken down by the pretreatment from the two or more stages of the thermal pretreatment unit, a feed section of the biomass gasifier configured to receive the particles of biomass produced by the thermal pretreatment unit and feed the particles into the reactor through one or more feed lines, a high-temperature steam supply input, at least one gas-fired heater, and where the reactor is configured to react the particles of biomass in the presence of steam from the high-temperature steam supply input, by way of a rapid biomass gasification reaction, at a temperature of at least approximately 700° C., to create components of the syngas, including hydrogen (H where the at least one gas-fired heater couples to the reactor and cooperates with the steam from the high-temperature steam supply input to supply heat energy and control the temperature of the reactor to at least approximately 700° C., wherein the thermal pretreatment unit, the biomass gasifier, and the downstream methanol synthesis reactor make up at least part of the integrated plant.