Rapid solar-thermal conversion of biomass to syngas
원문보기
IPC분류정보
국가/구분
United States(US) Patent
등록
국제특허분류(IPC7판)
B01J-007/00
C01B-003/36
C01B-006/24
출원번호
US-0847097
(2007-08-29)
등록번호
US-8287610
(2012-10-16)
발명자
/ 주소
Weimer, Alan W.
Perkins, Christopher
Mejic, Dragan
Lichty, Paul
출원인 / 주소
The Regents of the University of Colorado, a body corporate
대리인 / 주소
Snell & Wilmer L.L.P.
인용정보
피인용 횟수 :
3인용 특허 :
13
초록▼
Methods for carrying out high temperature reactions such as biomass pyrolysis or gasification using solar energy. The biomass particles are rapidly heated in a solar thermal entrainment reactor. The residence time of the particles in the reactor can be 5 seconds or less. The biomass particles may be
Methods for carrying out high temperature reactions such as biomass pyrolysis or gasification using solar energy. The biomass particles are rapidly heated in a solar thermal entrainment reactor. The residence time of the particles in the reactor can be 5 seconds or less. The biomass particles may be directly or indirectly heated depending on the reactor design. Metal oxide particles can be fed into the reactor concurrently with the biomass particles, allowing carbothermic reduction of the metal oxide particles by biomass pyrolysis products. The reduced metal oxide particles can be reacted with steam to produce hydrogen in a subsequent process step.
대표청구항▼
1. A method for at least partially reacting biomass particles to form reaction products comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide, the method comprising the steps of: a) providing a solar-thermal reactor comprising an outer protection shell and one or more inner reaction shells having an inlet and an
1. A method for at least partially reacting biomass particles to form reaction products comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide, the method comprising the steps of: a) providing a solar-thermal reactor comprising an outer protection shell and one or more inner reaction shells having an inlet and an outlet, the outer protection shell having an opening to the atmosphere for transmission of solar energy;b) flowing a gas stream from the inlet to the outlet of the reaction shell, the gas stream comprising entrained biomass particles at the inlet of the one or more inner reaction shells, the volume average equivalent spherical particle diameter of the biomass particles being between 10 micron and 10 mm; andc) rapidly heating the biomass particles in the reactor through solar thermal heating to a temperature of at least 950° C. at least in part by exposing the reactor to a source of concentrated sunlight, wherein the biomass particles react to form products comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide, wherein the temperature of at least 950° C. is used to at least bypass formation of tar, where the ash content of the biomass particles exiting the solar-thermal reactor is less than 15% and conversion of the non-ash components of the biomass particles is greater than 50%. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the biomass particles are heated to a temperature from 1000° C. to 1400° C. and the rate at which the biomass particles are heated is greater than 100° C./s. 3. The method of claim 1 wherein the residence time of the biomass particles in the portion of the reactor exposed to the source of concentrated sunlight is less than or equal to 5 sec and the flux of the source of concentrated sunlight is from 1000 kW/m2 to 3000 kW/m2. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the maximum equivalent spherical particle diameter of the biomass particles is less than 1 millimeter. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the conversion of the non-ash components of the biomass particles is greater than 70% and the gas stream also comprises water vapor and the molar ratio of water to biomass particles is greater than or equal to one. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the biomass particles react to form products comprising hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide and the ratio of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide is less than 25%. 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: flowing the gas stream with the biomass particles along with metal oxide particles at the inlet of the one or more inner reaction shells and the biomass particles and gas stream do not comprise substantial amounts of water; andheating the biomass and metal oxide particles in the reactor through solar thermal heating at least in part by the exposing the reactor to the source of concentrated sunlight, the particles being heated to the temperature of at least 950° C. at which the biomass particles pyrolyze to form reaction products comprising hydrogen, carbon, and carbon monoxide and the metal oxide particles react with at least one of the biomass pyrolysis reaction products to form a reduced metal oxide product which is a metal, a metal oxide of a lower valence state, or a combination thereof. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the biomass particles are heated to a temperature from 1000° C. to 1400° C. and the metal oxide particles are selected from the group consisting of zinc oxide (ZnO), tin oxide (SnO2), or iron oxide (Fe3O4). 9. The method of claim 7, wherein the conversion of the metal oxide to a reduced metal or to a lower oxidation state metal oxide is at least 50% and the residence time of the particles in the portion of the reactor exposed to the source of concentrated sunlight is less than 5 sec. 10. The method of claim 7, wherein the conversion of metal oxide to a reduced metal or to a lower oxidation state metal is at least 75% and the volume average equivalent spherical particle diameter of the biomass particles is between 10 micron and 10 mm and the particle size of the metal oxide particles is below 150 microns. 11. The method of claim 1, wherein a window or aperture in a side wall of the outer protection shell and the side wall does not permit transmission of solar radiation except at the window or aperture in the side wall, where at least a portion of an interior of the side wall, away from the window or aperture, comprises a material reflective to solar radiation, and in a cross-section of the reactor made through the window or aperture in the side wall and perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the outer protective shell, the outer protective shell is characterized by a horizontal centerline which extends through the window or aperture, wherein at least three inner shells at least partially located within the outer protection shell, each inner shell having a longitudinal axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of the outer protection shell, wherein the inner shells are not concentric and are arranged so that the side walls of the inner shells are not in contact with each other and so that in the reactor cross-section, the centers of the inner shells are not aligned along a single straight line, andwherein a particle entrainment feeding system in fluid communication with the inner shells, wherein the source of concentrated solar radiation is disposed so that the window or aperture of the outer protection shell is exposed to solar radiation. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein a number of inner reaction shells is from 3 to 10 and in the reactor cross-section the centers of the inner reaction shells are aligned along a circular arc and a center of the arc lies on the horizontal centerline and is located farther back in the outer shell than the ends of the arc. 13. The method of claim 11, wherein a number of inner reaction shells is from 3 to 10 and in the reactor cross-section the centers of the inner shells are arranged in a staggered pattern. 14. The method of claim 11, wherein the inner reaction shells are arranged in two rows perpendicular to a horizontal centerline, the first row containing more inner reaction shells and spanning a greater width than the second row and the second row being located farther back in the outer shell than the first row, and wherein a number of inner reaction shells is greater than 5, and a ratio of a length to an inner diameter of the inner shells is from 2 to 12. 15. A method for at least partially reacting biomass particles to form reaction products comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide, the method comprising the steps of: a) providing a solar-thermal reactor comprising an outer protection shell and an inner reaction shell having an inlet and an outlet, the outer protection shell having an opening to the atmosphere for transmission of available concentrated solar energy;b) flowing a gas stream from the inlet to the outlet of the reaction shell, the gas stream comprising entrained biomass particles at the inlet of the reaction shell, the volume average equivalent spherical particle diameter of the biomass particles having a defined range;c) rapidly heating the biomass particles in the reactor through solar thermal heating to a temperature of at least 950° C. at least in part by exposing the reactor to a source of concentrated sunlight, wherein the biomass particles react in a gasification reaction to form products comprising hydrogen and carbon monoxide; andd) balancing the biomass particles gasification reaction with the available concentrated solar energy, biomass particles size within the boundaries of the defined range, operating temperature of the reactor, residence time that the biomass particles remain in the solar-thermal reactor so that overall biomass conversion remains above a threshold percentage and gasification of the biomass particles occurs at a temperature where tar formation is negligible, wherein the heating to the temperature of at least 950° C. is used to cause the tar formation to be negligible, where the ash content of the biomass particles exiting the solar-thermal reactor is less than 15% and conversion of the non-ash, components of the biomass particles is greater than 50%.
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이 특허에 인용된 특허 (13)
Gregg David W. (Moraga CA), Apparatus and method for solar coal gasification.
Frosch Robert A. Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ; with respect to an invention of ( ashington DC D.C. CA 91711) Qader Shaik A. (704 Marlboro Ct. Claremont CA 91711, Solar heated fluidized bed gasification system.
Weimer, Alan W.; Dahl, Jaimee K.; Pitts, J. Roland; Lewandowski, Allan A.; Bingham, Carl; Tamburini, Joseph R., Solar thermal aerosol flow reaction process.
Purdy Kenneth R. (Decatur GA) Gorton Charles W. (Atlanta GA) Knight ; Jr. James A. (Atlanta GA), Thermochemical conversion of biomass to syngas via an entrained pyrolysis/gasification process.
Klausner, James F.; Petrasch, Joerg; AuYeung, Nicholas; Momen, Ayyoub Mehdizadeh; Mishra, Rishi; Lu, Jinchao; Hahn, David Worthington; Sehgal, Nikhil; Mei, Renwei; Greek, Benjamin, Solar thermochemical reactor and methods of manufacture and use thereof.
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