Patent ID: 6883442

Claim:
A process for the production of a gaseous fuel from a waste material and/or a premium fuel, which process comprises: (i) providing a processing chamber having therein a plurality of outwardly radiating inclined vanes at a base thereof, an inlet and an outlet; (ii) introducing a waste material and/or a premium fuel into the chamber through the inlet; (iii) generating an upward flow of a heating fluid through the vanes at the base of the chamber, wherein the vanes at the base of the chamber impart a rotational motion to the heating fluid to circulate the heating fluid about a substantially vertical axis of the chamber as said fluid rises, whereby the waste material and/or the premium fuel circulate about an axis of the chamber in a compact turbulent band and is gasified and/or pyrolysed to produce a gaseous fuel stream, which gaseous fuel stream exits the chamber through the outlet; and (iv) feeding at least a portion of the gaseous fuel stream back into the chamber through an entry point adjacent the vanes.