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US 6,358,040 B1Granted
Method and apparatus for a fuel-rich catalytic reactor
AssigneePrecision Combustion, Inc.
InventorsWilliam C. Pfefferle, Lance L Smith, Manco J. Castaldi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The present invention is a method, and an apparatus for practicing the method, that creates a product stream and a heat of reaction from a fuel-rich fuel/air mixture and then contacts the product stream with a sufficient quantity of additional air to completely combust all of the fuel, to which air a portion of the heat of reaction has been transferred.
Claims21
A method for partially oxidizing a fuel, comprising:
- a. mixing the fuel with a first fluid stream comprising oxidizer to create a fuel-rich fuel/oxidizer mixture;
- b. contacting the fuel-rich fuel/oxidizer mixture with a catalyst to oxidize at least a portion of the fuel within the fuel-rich fuel/oxidizer mixture thereby creating a product stream and a heat of reaction;
- c. conducting at least a portion of the heat of reaction into a cooling fluid stream comprising oxidizer, the cooling fluid stream being of sufficient flow rate to form a fuel-lean fuel/oxidizer mixture if mixed with the product stream;
- and contacting the product stream with the cooling fluid stream.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.