Patent ID: 8114177

Claim:
A continuous process for converting a carbonaceous feedstock into a plurality of gaseous products, the process comprising the steps of: (a) providing a biomass material comprising a first source of an alkali metal; (b) providing a carbonaceous material other than the biomass material; (c) providing a gasification catalyst comprising a second source of an alkali metal; (d) preparing the carbonaceous feedstock by intimately mixing the biomass material, carbonaceous material and gasification catalyst; (e) reacting the carbonaceous feedstock in a gasification reactor in the presence of steam under suitable temperature and pressure to form: (i) a plurality of gaseous products comprising methane and at least one or more members selected from the group consisting of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, ammonia, and other higher hydrocarbons, and (ii) a solid char comprising an alkali metal content from the gasification catalyst and the biomass material; (f) at least partially separating the plurality of gaseous products to produce a gas stream comprising a predominant amount of one of the gaseous products; and (g) recovering a substantial portion of the alkali metal content from the solid char, wherein: (1) at least a portion of the alkali metal content is not recovered from the solid char; (2) the gasification catalyst comprises the alkali metal content recovered from the solid char; and (3) a makeup catalyst comprising the biomass material, a makeup catalyst material, or both is provided in the carbonaceous feedstock in an amount to maintain a steady-state operational molar ratio of alkali metal atoms to carbon atoms in the carbonaceous feedstock, the steady-state operational molar ratio ranging from about 0.01 to about 0.10.