Patent ID: 8444725

Claim:
A process for converting a carbon-containing moiety to a liquid hydrocarbon fuel, comprising: gasifying with a predetermined energy source at least a portion of the carbon-containing moiety to produce a syngas stream comprising carbon monoxide and hydrogen, wherein the carbon-containing moiety is selected from the group consisting of biomass, coal, pet coke, methane, naphtha, and combinations thereof, at least a portion of the predetermined energy source being from a carbon-free energy source; reacting the syngas stream to form liquid hydrocarbon fuel; wherein the syngas stream is reacted in a hydrocarbon conversion reactor system to form liquid hydrocarbon fuel and carbon dioxide, wherein the liquid hydrocarbon fuel is a material comprising carbon and hydrogen that can exist in a closed container at normal temperature and pressure of 20° C. and 1 atmospheric pressure in a liquid state, and wherein the carbon dioxide from the hydrocarbon conversion reactor system is recycled to the gasifier; wherein the gasifying comprises introducing hydrogen derived from a carbon-free energy source into a gasifier, wherein the carbon-free energy source is selected from the group consisting of solar, wind, hydro and nuclear energy, wherein hydrogen includes excess hydrogen in excess of the amount of hydrogen reacting with the carbon-containing moiety, dividing a given biomass into a first fraction that can be directly converted by micro organisms to a liquid hydrocarbon and a second fraction that is not readily converted by micro organisms to liquid hydrocarbons; feeding the first fraction to a direct conversion unit containing microorganisms and recovering a liquid hydrocarbon product stream, a CO 2 containing stream, and optionally an unreacted biomass stream; feeding the second fraction of the biomass to the gasifier, and reacting excess hydrogen with carbon dioxide to decrease the concentration of carbon dioxide.