Systems and Methods for Electric and Heat Generation from Biomass

Abstract

A system for producing energy and heat from biomass is disclosed. The system includes a feed system, a gasifier, a thermal fluid oil heater, and a generator based on the organic Rankine cycle (ORC). The system may also include a controller that takes input from a number of sensors and controls, among other things, the rate at which fuel is fed into the system and the speed of fans and pumps that draw the products from one apparatus into the next. In this system, the biomass is fed into the gasifier, the resulting producer gas is flared and used to heat an oil in the thermal fluid oil heater, and the hot oil is used to provide input heat for the ORC generator. Methods for controlling such a system are also disclosed.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.