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US 2014/0175335 A1Published application
Method and apparatus for feeding municipal solid waste to a plasma gasifier reactor
AssigneeAir Products and Chemicals, Inc.
InventorsAlan Donald Anderson, Francis Peter Petrocelli, Frank Stephen Winger
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus are described for supplying municipal solid waste (MSW), and/or other types of solid waste comprising both organic waste material and inorganic waste material, into a plasma gasifier reactor (PGR) in which the solid waste is to be processed.
Claims35
A feed apparatus for feeding solid waste, comprising both organic and inorganic waste material, into a plasma gasifier reactor, the feed apparatus comprising:
- a pre-compactor arranged and operable to receive the solid waste and to compact the solid waste to form a compacted solid waste;
- a supply device arranged and operable to add a carbon bed source material to the compacted solid waste;
- and
- a feed device arranged and operable to receive the compacted solid waste and carbon bed source material and to introduce the compacted solid waste and carbon bed source material as a combined feed into the plasma gasifier reactor.
1 more element
A feed apparatus for feeding solid waste, comprising both organic and inorganic waste material, into a plasma gasifier reactor, the feed apparatus comprising:
- a scrubber system arranged and operable to receive a syngas stream from the plasma gasifier reactor, to contact the syngas stream with water to remove particulates from the syngas and form a sludge comprising water and removed particulates, and to add the sludge to the solid waste;
- and
- a feed device arranged and operable to receive the solid waste and sludge and introduce the solid waste and sludge as a combined feed into the plasma gasifier reactor.
A method of feeding solid waste, comprising both organic and inorganic waste material, into a plasma gasifier reactor, the method comprising the steps of:
- compacting the solid waste to form a compacted solid waste;
- adding a carbon bed source material to the compacted solid waste to form a combined feed comprising the compacted solid waste and carbon bed source material;
- and
- introducing the combined feed into a plasma gasifier reactor;
- wherein the solid waste contains also water and/or has water added thereto prior to being compacted to form a compacted solid waste, at least some of said water being retained in the compacted solid waste and in the combined feed introduced into the plasma gasifier reactor.
2 more elements
A method of processing solid waste comprising both organic and inorganic waste material, the method comprising the steps of:
- (i) compacting the solid waste to form a compacted solid waste;
- (ii) adding a carbon bed source material to the compacted solid waste to form a combined feed comprising the compacted solid waste and carbon bed source material;
- (iii) introducing the combined feed into a plasma gasifier reactor, the plasma gasifier reactor comprising:
- a reactor vessel having an interior volume in which conversion of solid waste to syngas and molten slag can take place;
- a solid waste inlet port via which the combined feed is charged into the vessel;
- a carbon bed, located inside the reactor vessel below the solid waste port, on which newly charged solid waste and carbon bed source material rests, through which molten slag can flow, and which is replenished by the carbon bed source material;
- one or more plasma torches;
- a slag outlet port at the bottom of the vessel;
- and
- a syngas outlet port at the top of the vessel;
- (iv) supplying thermal energy from the one or more plasma torches to the carbon bed and solid waste so as to generate a syngas from the carbon bed and the organic waste material and a molten slag from the inorganic waste material;
- (v) withdrawing molten slag from the slag outlet port;
- and
- (vi) withdrawing syngas from the syngas outlet port
- wherein the solid waste contains also water and/or has water added thereto prior to being compacted to form a compacted solid waste, at least some of said water being retained in the compacted solid waste and in the combined feed introduced into the plasma gasifier reactor.
12 more elements
A method of feeding solid waste, comprising both organic and inorganic waste material, into a plasma gasifier reactor, the method comprising the steps of:
- contacting a syngas stream from the plasma gasifier reactor with water to remove particulates from the syngas and form a sludge comprising water and removed particulates;
- adding the sludge to the solid waste to form a combined feed comprising the sludge and the solid waste;
- and
- introducing the combined feed into a plasma gasifier reactor.
1 more element
A method of processing solid waste comprising both organic and inorganic waste material, the method comprising the steps of:
- (i) adding a sludge to the solid waste to form a combined feed comprising the sludge and the solid waste;
- (ii) introducing the combined feed into a plasma gasifier reactor, the plasma gasifier reactor comprising:
- a reactor vessel having an interior volume in which conversion of the solid waste to syngas and molten slag can take place;
- a solid waste inlet port via which the combined feed is charged into the vessel;
- one or more plasma torches;
- a slag outlet port at the bottom of the vessel;
- and
- a syngas outlet port at the top of the vessel;
- (iii) supplying thermal energy from the one or more plasma torches to the solid waste and sludge so as to generate a syngas from the organic waste material and a molten slag from the inorganic waste material;
- (iv) withdrawing molten slag from the slag outlet port;
- (v) withdrawing a syngas stream from the syngas outlet port;
- and
- (vi) contacting the syngas stream with water to remove particulates from the syngas and form a sludge comprising water and removed particulates, which sludge is added to the solid waste in step (i).
10 more elements
A method of processing solid waste comprising both organic and inorganic waste material, the method comprising the steps of:
- (i) introducing the solid waste into a plasma gasifier reactor, the plasma gasifier reactor comprising:
- a reactor vessel having an interior volume in which conversion of the solid waste to syngas and molten slag takes place, said interior volume comprising a gasification zone in which gasification of organic waste material takes place;
- a solid waste inlet port via which the solid waste is charged into the vessel;
- one or more plasma torches;
- a slag outlet port at the bottom of the vessel;
- and
- a syngas outlet port at the top of the vessel;
- (ii) introducing a gaseous feed comprising molecular oxygen into the gasification zone of the plasma gasifier reactor;
- (iii) supplying thermal energy from the one or more plasma torches to the solid waste so as to generate a syngas from the organic waste material and a molten slag from the inorganic waste material;
- (iv) withdrawing molten slag from the slag outlet port;
- and
- (v) withdrawing syngas from the syngas outlet port;
- wherein the solid waste introduced into the plasma gasifier reactor contains also water and/or the method further comprises introducing water into the gasification zone of the plasma gasifier reactor via a separate vapour or liquid feed, the mass ratio of water to molecular oxygen entering the gasification zone being controlled so as to be from 0.5 to 2.0.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.