US 12,492,132 B2Granted

Device for controlling thermal hydrolysis decompression and process plant comprising such device

AssigneeCambi Technology AS

InventorsAndreas Helland Lillebo, Alexandru Botan, Hans Rasmus Holte

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Abstract

The present invention provides a device for controlling steam explosion of biomass having a dry solids content above 1%, a VS content of above 20%, and including abrasive material, in a pressure relief vessel, which includes one or more blowdown conduits having at their outlets an adjustable open area for regulating the blowdown discharge rate. The adjustable open area of each of the one or more blowdown conduits are constructed in such a way that expansion/spray due to flashing takes place either inside the pressure relief vessel itself or in an additional inlet device through which the discharged biomass is directed from the adjustable open area and into the pressure relief vessel and which either have a large enough dimension to avoid the discharged biomass hitting essential parts of the construction or is made from a highly resistant/durable material.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A device for relieving the pressure of biomass upon entering a pressure relief vessel, the biomass being in the form of moist material including abrasive material having a particle size >150 micron and rated at 7 or above on Mohs scale of hardness, and having a dry solid content above 5% whereof above 20% is volatile solids (VS), the device comprising one or more blowdown conduits for transporting said biomass in the form of moist material from a reactor to said pressure relief vessel and discharging said biomass in the form of moist material into said pressure relief vessel, wherein:

said one or more blowdown conduits are either oriented towards a sacrificial material or towards an already discharged biomass collected inside said pressure relief vessel, or are arranged to discharge into one or more additional inlet devices to said pressure relief vessel, wherein each additional inlet device is either made from durable material or has a dimension large enough to avoid discharged biomass hitting any parts of said one or more additional inlet devices, and
said one or more blowdown conduits each has a transverse cross-sectional area and is provided at an outlet thereof with a valve having a variable cross-sectional area providing an adjustable open area for:
a) regulating the blowdown discharge rate of said biomass in the form of moist material into said pressure relief vessel, and
b) providing an opening area to the corresponding one of said one or more blowdown conduits at the outlet, wherein said opening area is smaller than the transverse cross-sectional area.

1 more element

A method for thermal hydrolysis of raw biomass comprising:

subjecting said raw biomass to thermal hydrolysis thereby producing biomass in the form of a moist material under pressure;
and
transferring said biomass to a pressure relief vessel for relief of pressure of said moist material;
characterized in that:
said moist material has a dry solid content above 5% whereof above 20% is volatile solids (VS) and that it includes abrasive material having a particle size >150 micron and rated at 7 or above on Mohs scale of hardness, and said transfer of said biomass to said pressure relief vessel is achieved by use of a device comprising one or more blowdown conduits for transporting said biomass in the form of moist material from a reactor to said pressure relief vessel and discharging said biomass in the form of moist material into said pressure relief vessel, wherein said one or more blowdown conduits either oriented towards a sacrificial material or towards already discharged biomass collected inside said pressure relief vessel, or are arranged to discharge into one or more additional inlet devices to said pressure relief vessel, wherein each additional inlet device is either made from a durable material or has a dimension large enough to avoid discharged biomass hitting any parts of said one or more additional inlet devices, and wherein each of said one or more blowdown conduits has a transverse cross-sectional area and is provided at the outlet thereof with a valve having a variable cross-sectional area providing an adjustable open area for:
a) regulating the blowdown discharge rate of said biomass in the form of moist material into said pressure relief vessel;
and
b) providing an opening area of to the corresponding one of said one or more blowdown conduits at the outlet, wherein said opening area is smaller than the transverse cross-sectional area.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.