Combined hydrothermal liquefaction and catalytic hydrothermal gasification system and process for conversion of biomass feedstocks
AssigneeBattelle Memorial Institute
InventorsDouglas C. Elliott, Gary G. Neuenschwander, Todd R. Hart
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Abstract
A combined hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) and catalytic hydrothermal gasification (CHG) system and process are described that convert various biomass-containing sources into separable bio-oils and aqueous effluents that contain residual organics. Bio-oils may be converted to useful bio-based fuels and other chemical feedstocks. Residual organics in HTL aqueous effluents may be gasified and converted into medium-BTU product gases and directly used for process heating or to provide energy.
Claims16
A system for conversion of a biomass, the system comprising:
- a hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) stage apparatus that hydrothermally liquefies the biomass in an aqueous medium at a temperature and pressure selected to form a crude conversion product comprising a bio-oil component and an aqueous component, wherein the HTL stage apparatus includes a solids separator configured to receive the crude conversion product and provide solids-free crude conversion product comprising the bio-oil component and the aqueous component;
- and
- a catalytic hydrothermal gasification (CHG) stage apparatus operatively coupled to the HTL stage apparatus and configured to receive at least a portion of the solids-free crude conversion product having both the bio-oil component and the aqueous component, and form, at a selected temperature and pressure, a gas product containing at least one medium BTU product gas from the aqueous component.
A biomass conversion process, the process comprising:
- hydrothermally liquefying a biomass containing feedstock in an aqueous medium at a temperature and a pressure selected to form a crude biomass conversion product comprising:
- solids;
- a bio-oil component;
- and
- an aqueous component;
- separating the solids from the crude biomass conversion product to form a solids-free crude conversion product comprising the bio-oil component and the aqueous component;
- and
- providing the aqueous component to a catalytic hydrothermal gasifier and catalytically hydrothermally gasifying the aqueous component over a selected catalyst at a temperature and a pressure selected to form a product gas containing at least one medium-BTU gas.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.