Industrial Procedure for the Obtaining of Lower Alcohols From Solar Energy

Industrial procedure to obtain lower alcohols from solar energy, characterised in that it comprises the following stages:

• i) gasification/pyrolysis at a dual reactor, to obtain syngas:
• the water vapour from a high temperature solar thermal power plant is fed to a dual gasification/pyrolysis reactor where wet milled coal has been previously fed through a feeding hopper, and such coal is partly oxidized by the O2 obtained from a subsequent electrolysis stage (stage 2), and by the water vapour from the solar plant at a gasifier provided inside the dual reactor;
• the gas thus obtained is subsequently subject to a pyrolysis, removing the free carbon, the H2S and part of CO2, using the appropriate catalysts to obtain syngas.
• ii) Electrolysis in parallel to obtain hydrogen and oxygen:
• the mixture of water vapour and residual CO2 obtained at the stage i) passes through a turbine/engine to generate, by means of a dynamo, the power required to unleash an electrolysis reaction at the appropriate electrolysis tank which has been previously fed with demineralised water, so that the oxygen obtained feeds the dual gasification/pyrolysis reactor of the stage i) above, and the hydrogen obtained is brought to a proportioner where it is compressed and heated along with the syngas for its subsequent reaction in the stage iii) below, while the residual mixture of carbon dioxide and water vapour is brought from the turbine towards a catalytic reactor, so that it can be used at a subsequent stage iv).
• iii) Catalytic reaction to obtain lower alcohols from syngas and hydrogen:
• the syngas obtained at the stage i) compressed and heated before being fed to a catalytic reactor along with the hydrogen obtained during the stage ii), to obtain lower alcohols through the relevant catalysts.
• iv) Catalytic reaction to obtain lower alcohols from CO2 and water vapour:
• the CO2 and the water vapour obtained at the stage i) from the initial source of water vapour are recirculated towards a catalyst reactor where lower alcohols are obtained through the use of the appropriate catalysts, and the oxygen obtained as a by-product is recirculated towards the dual gasification/pyrolysis reactor of the stage i).