System and method for extracting energy from agricultural waste
AssigneeBest Biofuels LLC c/o Smithfield Foods, Inc.
InventorJerrel Dale Branson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a process and apparatus for processing agricultural waste to make alcohol and/or biodiesel. The agricultural wastes are subjected to anaerobic digestion which produces a biogas stream containing methane, which is subsequently reformed to a syngas containing carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The syngas is converted to an alcohol which may be stored, sold, used, or fed directly to a reactor for production of biodiesel. The solids effluent from the anaerobic digester can be further utilized as slow release, organic certified fertilizer. Additionally, the wastewater from the process is acceptable for immediate reuse in agricultural operations.
Claims23
1) A method for treating agricultural wastes comprising:
- anaerobic digesting a mixture of at least agricultural waste and water to yield solids and a biogas including methane and carbon dioxide;
- reforming the biogas including methane and carbon dioxide to a syngas including carbon monoxide and hydrogen in a steam reformation process;
- and
- converting the syngas containing carbon monoxide and hydrogen to methanol in an alcohol conversion process.
) The method according to claim 1, wherein the anaerobic digesting compriss digesting concentrated agricultural waste having a solids content of greater than about 4-8% that is heated prior to digestion.
16) A system for treating agricultural waste comprising:
- an anaerobic digestion apparatus to digest agricultural waste and create solids and a biogas;
- a biogas reformation apparatus to reform the biogas into a syngas comprising carbon monoxide and hydrogen;
- and an alcohol conversion apparatus to convert the carbon monoxide and hydrogen into methanol.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.