Patent ID: 8759047

Claim:
A process for the production of liquid products from a biomass feedstock by indirect gasification to syngas comprising CO 2 , CO, H 2 and CH 4 , and bio-conversion of syngas components, said process comprising: providing a biomass feedstock to a gasifier and indirectly gasifying the biomass feedstock by contact with a heating medium to produce a syngas stream comprising CO 2 , CO, H 2 and at least 10 mole % CH 4 on an anhydrous basis; passing a feed gas comprising the syngas stream and containing at least 10 mole % CH 4 on an anhydrous basis from the gasifier to a bioreactor to convert CO and CO 2 and H 2 to liquid products by contact with microorganisms therein; withdrawing a bioreactor effluent stream containing the liquid products from the bioreactor and recovering liquid products from the bioreactor effluent stream; recovering a tail gas stream from the bioreactor comprising CO 2 and CH 4 ; separating CO 2 from the tail gas stream to produce a CH 4 rich gas stream; passing at least a portion of the CH 4 rich stream to a reformer to produce a reformed stream comprising CO and CO 2 and H 2 ; and, passing at least a portion of the reformed stream to the bioreactor along with syngas from the gasifier to provide the feed gas to the bioreactor.