Patent ID: 7906304

Claim:
A method for producing liquid and gaseous synfuel from carbonaceous material, the method comprising the steps of: forming a solid state stacked particle bioreactor with a plurality of particles comprising biodegradable carbonaceous material, the solid state bioreactor having an inter-particle void volume, and the solid state stacked particle bioreactor including a drainage system configured to continuously drain liquid from the stacked particle bioreactor so that the stacked particles are not submerged in a liquid phase; inoculating the solid state stacked particle bioreactor with a culture comprising one or more aerobic and/or facultative anaerobic microorganisms capable of fermenting the carbonaceous material; fermenting the carbonaceous material in the solid state stacked particle bioreactor to produce alcohol; converting the environment within the solid state stacked particle bioreactor from an aerobic environment to an anaerobic environment; inoculating the solid state stacked particle bioreactor with a culture comprising one or more anaerobic microorganisms; anaerobically bioconverting fermentation products in the stacked particle bioreactor to gaseous synfuel; and collecting alcohol and gaseous synfuel from the solid state stacked particle bioreactor.