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US 11,767,274 B1Granted
Systems and/or methods for producing synthetic hydrocarbons from biomass
OwnerMatthew D. Merrillinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Certain exemplary embodiments can provide a system, machine, device, manufacture, circuit, composition of matter, and/or user interface adapted for and/or resulting from, and/or a method and/or machine-readable medium comprising machine-implementable instructions for, activities that can include and/or relate to, converting biomass to synthetic hydrocarbons using a biomass thermal decomposer and/or a hydrocarbon synthesizer.
Claims30
A system configured for converting biomass to synthetic hydrocarbons, the system comprising:
- a biomass preparer configured to:
- filter and/or change a particle size, density, and/or dryness of a received biomass provided to the biomass preparer sufficiently for a resulting prepared biomass to have, on average, a maximum dimension between approximately 1 and approximately 10 centimeter, a bulk density between approximately 0.2 and approximately 0.9 kilogram/liter, and/or a dryness between 0 and approximately 30 weight percent;
- and
- store a volume of prepared biomass sufficient to operate the biomass thermal decomposer for at least 4 hours at approximately a biomass thermal decomposer nameplate biomass input flow rate;
- a biomass thermal decomposer configured to convert the prepared biomass to a synthesis gas;
- a synthesis gas cleaner configured to produce cleaned synthesis gas by removing biomass thermal decomposition byproducts from the synthesis gas;
- an electrolyzer configured to electrolyze water into electrolyzer hydrogen gas (H2) and electrolyzer oxygen gas (O2);
- a hydrocarbon synthesizer configured to produce synthetic hydrocarbons from the cleaned synthesis gas and the electrolyzer hydrogen gas;
- an electrical power conditioner configured to store sufficient electrical power selectively received from an electrical power generator and/or an external electrical power source to electrically power:
- the electrolyzer at approximately 20 percent to approximately 100 percent of an electrolyzer nameplate electrical power consumption rate for at least 0.5 hours;
- the system at approximately 20 percent to approximately 100 percent of a system nameplate synthetic hydrocarbon output flow rate for at least 0.5 hours;
- and
- a mass and heat integrator configured to store sufficient electrolyzer hydrogen gas to operate the hydrocarbon synthesizer at approximately 20 percent to approximately 100 percent of a hydrocarbon synthesizer nameplate synthetic hydrocarbon output flow rate for at least 0.5 hours.
10 more elements
A method for converting biomass to synthetic hydrocarbons, the method comprising:
- via a biomass preparer:
- filtering and/or changing a particle size, density, and/or dryness of a received biomass provided to the biomass preparer sufficiently for a resulting prepared biomass to have, on average, a maximum dimension between approximately 1 and approximately 10 centimeter, a bulk density between approximately 0.2 and approximately 0.9 kilogram/liter, and/or a dryness between 0 and approximately 30 weight percent;
- and
- storing a volume of prepared biomass sufficient to operate the biomass thermal decomposer for at least 4 hours at approximately a biomass thermal decomposer nameplate biomass input flow rate;
- via a biomass thermal decomposer, converting the prepared biomass to a synthesis gas;
- via a synthesis gas cleaner, producing cleaned synthesis gas by removing biomass thermal decomposition byproducts from the synthesis gas;
- via an electrolyzer, electrolyzing water into electrolyzer hydrogen gas (H2) and electrolyzer oxygen gas (O2);
- via a hydrocarbon synthesizer, producing synthetic hydrocarbons from the cleaned synthesis gas and the electrolyzer hydrogen gas;
- via an electrical power conditioner, storing sufficient electrical power selectively received from an electrical power generator and/or an external electrical power source to electrically power:
- the electrolyzer at approximately 20 percent to approximately 100 percent of an electrolyzer nameplate electrical power consumption rate for at least 0.5 hours;
- the system at approximately 20 percent to approximately 100 percent of a system nameplate hydrocarbon output flow rate for at least 0.5 hours;
- and
- via a mass and heat integrator, storing sufficient electrolyzer hydrogen gas provided by the electrolyzer to operate the hydrocarbon synthesizer at approximately 20 percent to approximately 100 percent of a hydrocarbon synthesizer nameplate synthetic hydrocarbon output flow rate for at least 0.5 hours.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.