Patent ID: 7937948

Claim:
An apparatus for generating electricity from carbonaceous material having substantially low carbon dioxide emissions, comprising: a boiler to boil water to generate steam; a steam reformer to react the carbonaceous material with the steam at high-pressure in an absence of air to generate a high-pressure gas comprising primarily carbon dioxide gas and hydrogen gas, wherein sufficient water is provided to ensure a substantial majority of the carbonaceous material is converted into carbon dioxide gas and hydrogen gas; a heat exchanger after the steam reformer to exchanger heat from hot gas exiting the stream reformer to boil water into the stream; a CO 2 separator to separate at high pressure at least a portion of the carbon dioxide gas from the high-pressure gas to generate a carbon dioxide-rich gas and a hydrogen-rich fuel gas; and a gas turbine to utilize a portion of the hydrogen-rich fuel gas to generate electricity, wherein waste heat from the gas turbine is used to provide heat needed to boil water in the boiler, and wherein the carbon dioxide-rich gas is utilized in an industrial process, thereby generating electricity with substantially low carbon dioxide emissions.