Patent ID: 6988452

Claim:
A furnace system comprising: a furnace; at least one feed pipe for providing at least one heterogeneous stream comprising at least one solid fuel and a carrier gas; a tower distributor coupled to the at least one feed pipe for receiving the at least one heterogeneous stream and for distributing the at least one heterogeneous stream into a plurality of output streams, each of the plurality of output streams having substantially equal amounts of the at least one solid fuel; a plurality of burners coupled to the furnace for receiving each of the plurality of output streams for combustion in the furnace; wherein the tower distributor includes an inlet section for receiving the at least one heterogeneous stream comprising at least one solid fuel and a carrier gas; a mixer section including a mixing device coupled to the inlet section for creating turbulence and mixing the at least one heterogeneous stream to provide a single mixed stream; a recovery section arranged downstream of the mixer section for receiving the single mixed heterogeneous stream, the recovery section having a length such that turbulence in the single mixed heterogeneous stream substantially subsides as the stream flows therealong, whereby a laminar mixed heterogeneous stream is obtained; and an outlet section for receiving the laminar mixed heterogeneous stream and for splitting the laminar mixed heterogeneous stream into a plurality of output streams such that the plurality of output streams have substantially equal amounts of the at least one solid fuel.