Back to results
US 9,790,115 B2Granted
Processing biomass using thermochemical processing and anaerobic digestion in combination
AssigneeWashington State University
InventorsManuel Garcia-Perez, Craig Frear
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods for integrating thermochemical processing of biomass and anaerobic digestion are provided. Light oxygenated organic compounds are produced as byproducts of thermochemical biomass processing e.g. by torrefaction and/or pyrolysis, and are converted to methane by anaerobic digestion. Thermochemical processing units may or may not be co-located with the anaerobic digestion units, with co-location providing benefits for e.g. rural agricultural enterprises.
Claims14
A system for the processing at least one biomass source comprising:
- at least one thermochemical reactor which degrades high solid content biomass;
- a fractional condenser system which condenses volatiles produced by the thermochemical reactor to produce an aqueous fraction containing light oxygenated organic compounds selected from the group consisting of formic acid, acetic acid, propionic acid, methanol, glyocoaldehyde, and acetol;
- a transfer system to transport the aqueous fraction produced in the fractional condenser system;
- and
- an anaerobic digester which digests low solid content biomass and is configured to receive said aqueous fraction produced in said fractional condenser system from said transfer system at a spatial or temporal position between a middle and end section of said anaerobic digester which contains a methanogenic bacterial population,
- wherein the at least one thermochemical reactor includes a pyrolysis reactor.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.