Pollution-free pressurized combustion utilizing a controlled concentration of water vapor
AssigneeDipac Associates
InventorNorman L. Dickinson
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a continuous pressurized process for the combustion, in the presence of steam and alkali, of solid fuels charged as aqueous slurries, the improvements comprising the elevation of inlet zone temperature in an entrained phase reactor by recirculating hot solid products to the zone, maintaining increased temperature and/or reduced steam partial pressure in the reactor and/or utilizing contaminated water from an associated fuels processing apparatus as a source of slurry and/or reactor temperature control water. An embodiment suitable for a coal-fired gas turbine locomotive is described and illustrated.
Claims18
A continuous combustion process comprising pressurizing an aqueous slurry of fuel particles containing alkali in an amount at least the chemical equivalent of the sulfur in the fuel particles;
- pressurizing an oxygen-containing gas;
- mixing the pressurized fuel slurry, the pressurized oxygen-containing gas and particles of recycled solid products in an inlet zone of an elongated reactor to form a mixture comprising a gaseous phase of oxygen-containing gas and water vapor in which the particles of fuel, alkali and recycled solid products are entrained;
- permitting combustible portions of the fuel particles to burn at a temperature not exceeding 1600.degree. F. as the mixture flows from the inlet zone to a reactor outlet while maintaining a partial pressure of water vapor of at least 3 atmospheres, as measured at the outlet, forming a reactor effluent comprising gaseous products in which particles of net and recycled solid products are entrained;
- passing the effluent through a gas-solids separating device, forming gaseous products carrying fine particles of unseparated solid products and separated net and recycled solid particles;
- returning the recycled portion of the separated solid particles to the inlet zone;
- withdrawing the net portion of the separated solid particles;
- cooling the gaseous products containing the unseparated particles at essentially combustion pressure, by extracting useful heat therefrom, to a temperature below their dewpoint, forming a flue gas and a fines slurry containing the unseparated solid particles.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.