Pulsed atmospheric fluidized bed combustor apparatus

A pulsed fluidized bed apparatus comprising:

• a) a reaction vessel, said reaction vessel having an upper section and a lower section;
• b) means for feeding a combustible and fluidizable material into said vessel;
• c) means for fluidizing said combustible and fluidizable material, said fluidizing means including a distributor device positioned within said vessel so that a combustible and fluidizable material may be placed in a fluidized state by said fluidizing means;
• d) pulse combustor means extending into said vessel, said pulse combustor means comprising a combustion chamber and at least one opening associated with said combustion chamber for admitting one or more fuel-air mixtures thereto, said pulse combustor means further including a resonance chamber in communication with said combustion chamber, said resonance chamber extending toward the lower section of said vessel, said resonance chamber further including diffuser means for reducing the velocity of gaseous products escaping from said resonance chamber, said diffuser means located at the end of said resonance chamber extending toward the lower section of said vessel, and being arranged so that said gaseous products escaping therefrom may act on said combustible and fluidizable material;
• and
• e) exhaust means in communication with said vessel for allowing combustion products to be removed from said vessel, said exhaust means including means for separating solids from gases and returning said solids to said vessel for further reaction and further including means for removing ash and residue from said reactor vessel.

A pulsed fluidized bed apparatus comprising

• a) a reaction vessel;
• b) means for feeding waste materials into said vessel;
• c) means for fluidizing said waste materials, said fluidizing means including a distributor device positioned within said vessel so that said waste materials may be placed in a fluidized state by said fluidizing means;
• d) a pulse combustor means extending into said vessel, said pulse combustor means comprising a combustion chamber and at least one opening associated with said combustion chamber for admitting one or more fuel-air mixtures thereto, said pulse combustor means further including a resonance chamber in communication with said combustion chamber extending toward the location of said waste materials within said vessel, said resonance chamber including diffuser means located at the end of said resonance chamber extending toward the waste materials within said vessel such that the velocity of gaseous products escaping from said resonance chamber is reduced, said resonance chamber being arranged so that said gaseous products may act on said waste materials;
• and
• e) flue gas exit means in communication with said vessel so that combustion products may be removed from said vessel, said flue gas exit means including a means for separating solids from gases in said combustion products and returning said solids to said vessel for further reaction.

A process for combusting solid fuel comprising the steps of:

• a) establishing and maintaining a fluidized bed of solid fuel;
• b) pulse combusting a fuel-air mixture so that a pulsating flow of combustion products is created therefrom;
• c) providing said pulsating flow of combustion products for directly acting on said fluidized bed of solid fuel for combustion thereof;
• and
• d) exhausting combustion products from said vessel.