Patent ID: 8136740

Claim:
A method providing a carbon-rich fluid, using a reactor with an inlet, a reaction chamber, and an outlet in fluid communication with an expander which is upstream of and in fluid communication with a downstream hot fluid heat exchanger, the method comprising: delivering a reactant fluid comprising a reactant including carbon to the reactor; delivering a co-reactant fluid, comprising a co-reactant including oxygen, to the reactor; delivering, upstream of the reactor outlet, a diluent fluid, comprising a vaporizable diluent; reacting the reactant fluid together with the co-reactant fluid in the reaction chamber to form an energetic fluid comprising products of reaction, diluent, and residual components of the reactant fluid, co-reactant fluid, and diluent fluid; extracting mechanical energy from the energetic fluid while expanding it through the expander and forming an expanded fluid; cooling one of the energetic fluid and the expanded fluid by a coolant fluid using the hot fluid heat exchanger, to obtain a cooled carbon-rich fluid, the cooling resulting in a heated coolant fluid; delivering mechanical energy to a mechanical use; delivering the heated fluid to a thermal fluid use; delivering the cooled carbon-rich fluid to a carbon fluid use; controlling the reactant fluid delivery to provide a thermal energy sufficient to deliver the mechanical energy and the thermal fluid; controlling the oxidant to reactant ratio to less than 334% of the stoichiometric ratio; thereby forming the carbon-rich fluid comprising greater than 6.40% carbon dioxide by mass on a dry basis; controlling the diluent fluid delivery upstream of the reactor outlet to constrain the peak temperature of the energetic fluid entering the expander to below a specified expander inlet temperature; and controlling the delivery of coolant fluid through the hot fluid heat exchanger; wherein recovering heat from the energetic fluid to control the temperature of the heated coolant fluid to greater than a predetermined minimum temperature.