Patent ID: 8920736

Claim:
A fluidized bed reactor comprising: a fluidized bed region encased in a reaction vessel, a feed nozzle for feeding fuel particles into the bed region, a center pipe for injecting steam and oxygen into the bed region, and a gas distributor for promoting the reaction between gases and fuel particles to produce syngas, a cyclone in fluid communication with the bed region for receiving a gas-fuel particle mixture which comprises product syngas and fuel particles from the bed region, wherein the cyclone is connected to a dipleg through which the fuel particles separated from the gas-fuel particle mixture in the cyclone are collected, a loop seal downstream of the cyclone, the loop seal comprising: i) a vertical downcomer segment, connected to the dipleg for receiving fuel particles from the dipleg; ii) a horizontal segment, downstream of the downcomer; iii) a riser segment, downstream of the horizontal segment; iv) a downwardly inclined segment, downstream of the riser segment, which is connected to the bed region, and v) an eductor in the downwardly inclined segment, the eductor comprising a nozzle located within the eductor and connected to a source of fine particles, wherein the fine particles are delivered to the bed reactor through the nozzle within the eductor and the downwardly inclined segment of the loop seal, wherein the fuel particles collected in the cyclone are re-entrained through the riser to the bed region and the gases from the bed region is prevented from reverse flowing to the dipleg.