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US 12,590,259 B1Granted
Systems and/or methods for producing products from crop materials
AssigneeWenew Carbology, LLC
InventorsMatthew D. Merrill, Gregory Simms, Khanh Dang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Certain exemplary embodiments can provide systems and/or methods for producing dried biomass materials, such as from bales of biomass. Biomass materials can be converted into, e.g., pellets, briquettes, cubes, and/or other products with dried and/or densified states. These dried, densified products can be used for, e.g., bioenergy and/or animal feed applications.
Claims27
A system configured for producing dried biomass, the system comprising:
- a plurality of biomass bales arranged in a bale stack, each bale from the plurality of biomass bales defining a longitudinal axis and thus the plurality of biomass bales define longitudinal axes, the longitudinal axes of the plurality of biomass bales aligned substantially parallel to one another, wherein the bale stack defines a plurality of channels that longitudinally extend substantially parallel to the longitudinal axes of the plurality of biomass bales, at least a longitudinal portion of each channel from the plurality of channels defined by at least two adjacent biomass bales from plurality of biomass bales;
- and
- one or more flexible, non-destructively inflatable, non-destructively collapsible tubes, wherein each:
- operably extends within a corresponding channel from the plurality of channels;
- operably contacts exteriors of the biomass bales that define the corresponding channel;
- defines a cross-sectional tube area that increases by 5% or more when the tube is inflated;
- and
- operably conveys a drying gas from a drying gas supply system through an interior of the tube and to one or more exterior surfaces of each of the corresponding biomass bales;
- wherein:
- the system operably causes a moisture metric associated with the bale stack to decrease into a predetermined range.
7 more elements
A method for producing dried biomass, the method comprising:
- positioning a plurality of flexible, non-destructively inflatable, non-destructively
- collapsible tubes in at least a portion of a plurality of channels defined by a plurality of cylindrical biomass bales arranged in a bale stack, each bale from the plurality of cylindrical biomass bales defining a longitudinal axis and thus the plurality of cylindrical biomass bales define longitudinal axes, the longitudinal axes of the plurality of cylindrical biomass bales aligned substantially parallel to one another, the plurality of channels longitudinally extending substantially parallel to the longitudinal axes of the plurality of cylindrical biomass bales, at least a longitudinal portion of each channel from the plurality of channels defined by at least 3 adjacent cylindrical biomass bales from the plurality of cylindrical biomass bales, each tube from that plurality of tubes:
- operably extending within a corresponding channel from the plurality of channels;
- operably contacting exteriors of the cylindrical biomass bales that define the corresponding channel;
- for each tube from the plurality of tubes, conveying a drying gas from a drying gas supply system through an interior of the tube and to an exterior of each of the at least 3 adjacent cylindrical biomass bales from the plurality of cylindrical biomass bales;
- causing a moisture metric associated with one or more bales of the bale stack to decrease into a predetermined range;
- wherein between 15 percent and 85 percent of the plurality of channels serve as outlet channels that operably convey drying gas received from the plurality of cylindrical biomass bales toward ambient.
4 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.