Patent ID: 7464555

Claim:
A gasification power plant comprising: a compressor receiving an ambient air flow and producing a compressed air flow; an air separation unit receiving an air separation unit portion of the compressed air flow, and producing a nitrogen flow and an oxygen flow; a gasifier receiving the oxygen flow, carbonaceous fuel, and water, and producing a primary fuel flow; a fuel supply providing a secondary fuel flow; a catalytic combustor comprising a diluent mixing flow path combining the nitrogen flow and a combustor portion of the compressed air flow to form a diluted air flow, a fuel/air mixer combining at least one of the primary fuel flow and secondary fuel flow with a mixer portion of the diluted air flow to produce a combustible mixture; a catalytic element having a catalytically active flow path receiving the combustible mixture and producing a partially combusted mixture and a backside cooling flow path receiving a backside cooling portion of the diluted air flow and producing a heated flow, the partially combusted mixture and the heated flow combining downstream of the catalytic element to produce a hot combustion gas; and a turbine receiving the hot combustion gas and expanding the hot combustion gas to extract mechanical shaft power.