Systems and methods for quenching, gas clean up, and ash removal

A chemical plant system, comprising:

• a source of radiation;
• a chemical reactor that has multiple reactor tubes located inside a thermal receiver and is in thermal communication with the source of radiation, where in the multiple reactor tubes particles of biomass are gasified in a presence of a carrier gas in a biomass gasification reaction to produce reaction products that include hydrogen and carbon monoxide gas having an exit temperature from the multiple reactor tubes exceeding at least 1000 degrees C. and the chemical reactor is primarily driven by radiation rather than by convection or conduction;
• wherein the multiple reactor tubes are configured for dual functions of 1) segregating a reaction environment for the biomass gasification reaction from an atmosphere of the thermal receiver, and 2) transferring energy by the radiation, convection, and said conduction to the particles of biomass to drive an endothermic gasification reaction of the particles of biomass in the biomass gasification reaction flowing through the multiple reactor tubes;
• a quench zone immediately downstream of an exit of the chemical reactor configured to immediately quench via rapid cooling of at least the hydrogen and the carbon monoxide gas of the reaction products within 10 seconds of exiting the chemical reactor to achieve a temperature after quenching of 800 degrees C. or less, which is below a level to reduce coalescence of ash remnants of the particles of biomass and stabilize formed hydrogen and carbon monoxide gas;
• one or more sprayers in the quench zone configured to directly inject water or methanol into the reaction products from the multiple reactor tubes, and
• a first control system programmed to control one or more of the following plant parameters to ensure the temperature is at or below 800 degrees C. when leaving the quench zone, where the first control system 1) changes a flow rate of a cooling medium being sprayed into the reaction products, and 2) provides feedback to change the flow rate of the particles of biomass into the chemical reactor, and any combination of these two;
• a first on-site chemical synthesis reactor that is geographically located on a same site as the chemical reactor and integrated to receive the formed hydrogen and carbon monoxide gas of the reaction products which have passed through the quench zone, wherein the first on-site chemical synthesis reactor has an input to receive a reaction product syngas stream, which contains the formed hydrogen and carbon monoxide gas products from the chemical reactor, and then is configured to use the reaction product syngas in a hydrocarbon synthesis process to create methanol, and a second on-site chemical synthesis reactor connected downstream of the first on-site chemical synthesis reactor and configured to produce a liquid hydrocarbon fuel or other chemical;
• and
• a compressor set, wherein a first compressor is configured to directly feed the reaction product syngas to the first on-site chemical reactor synthesis and bring pressure to that required for methanol synthesis, and a second control system is programmed to have a second compressor to send a remainder of the reaction product syngas to a storage unit, and wherein the second control system is programmed to determine a distribution to the compressor set based on storage planning and the methanol synthesis needs.