A continuous hydrocarbon pyrolysis process to produce hydrogen gas and carbon includes exposing a hydrocarbon feedstock to an oxygen depleted combustion gas within a hydrocarbon pyrolysis zone. A valveless pulse combustor produces the combustion gas at a temperature greater than 2,400° C. The hydrocarbon feedstock and combustion gas have a residence time within the hydrocarbon pyrolysis zone less than 30 seconds to cause pyrolysis of the hydrocarbon feedstock and produce gas comprising hydrogen and solid particles comprising carbon. The gas and solid particles exit the hydrocarbon pyrolysis zone at a temperature greater than 1,200° C. A heat exchanger cools the gas and solid particles to a temperature less than 200° C. A gas absorber removes unwanted gas molecules from the gas and produce H.sub.2 containing gas having an H.sub.2 concentration greater than 80 vol. % H.sub.2. The H.sub.2 containing gas is continuously introduced to a H.sub.2 consuming facility.

A method and system of using a type of wave rotor to reform a hydrocarbon fluid using pressure waves within the wave rotor to reformulate a hydrocarbon fluid, such as methane or the like, into a lighter hydrocarbon, hydrogen, or, in some instances, hydrogen, partially decomposed hydrocarbon fluid and carbon solids.

A heat transfer media comprises a particle. The particle comprises a discontinuous phase and a matrix material. The discontinuous phase is disposed within the matrix material, and the matrix material has a higher melting point than the discontinuous phase. The discontinuous phase has a melting point selected to be within a reaction temperature range.

Generation of bubbles in an organic-substance production apparatus is suppressed. A gas treatment method including: an adsorption step of passing a source gas containing at least carbon dioxide and nitrogen through an adsorption unit for adsorbing carbon dioxide to reduce a carbon dioxide concentration in the source gas; a supply step of supplying the source gas whose carbon dioxide concentration has been reduced by the adsorption step to an organic-substance production apparatus; and a monitoring step of monitoring a carbon dioxide concentration and a nitrogen concentration in the source gas; wherein the adsorption step has an ability regulation step of enhancing an ability of the adsorption unit to reduce a carbon dioxide concentration in the source gas, when a total concentration of the carbon dioxide concentration and the nitrogen concentration monitored in the monitoring step exceeds a threshold value.

Direct thermal decomposition of hydrocarbons into solid carbon and hydrogen is performed by a process and a device. The process comprises preheating a hydrocarbon gas stream to a temperature between 500° C. and 700° C. and injecting the pre-heated hydrocarbon gas stream into the reactor pool of a liquid metal reactor containing a liquid media; forming a multi-phase flow with a hydrocarbon gas comprising hydrogen and solid carbon at a temperature between 900° C. and 1200° C.; forming a carbon layer on the free surface of the liquid media made up of solid carbon particles which are then displaced into at least one carbon extraction system and at least one recipient for collecting them; and, at the same time, the gas comprising hydrogen leaves the reactor pool through a porous rigid section, being collected at a gas outlet collector from where the gas comprising hydrogen finally leaves the liquid metal reactor.

A process for producing syngas that uses the syngas product from a partial oxidation reactor to provide all necessary heating duties, which eliminates the need for a fired heater. Soot is removed from the syngas using a dry filter to avoid a wet scrubber quenching the syngas stream and wasting the high-quality heat. Without the flue gas stream leaving a fired heater, all of the carbon dioxide produced by the reforming process is concentrated in the high-pressure syngas stream, allowing essentially complete carbon dioxide capture.

The present invention provides a process for the manufacture of a useful product from carbonaceous feedstock of fluctuating compositional characteristics, the process comprising the steps of: continuously providing the carbonaceous feedstock of fluctuating compositional characteristics to a gasification zone; gasifying the carbonaceous feedstock in the gasification zone to obtain raw synthesis gas; recovering at least part of the raw synthesis gas from the gasification zone and supplying at least part of the recovered raw synthesis gas to a partial oxidation zone; equilibrating the H.sub.2:CO ratio of the raw synthesis gas in the partial oxidation zone to obtain equilibrated synthesis gas; recovering at least part of the equilibrated synthesis gas from the partial oxidation zone and treating the gas to remove impurities and generate a fine synthesis gas; optionally adjusting the H.sub.2:CO ratio of at least part of the fine synthesis gas to obtain adjusted fine synthesis gas; and converting the optionally adjusted fine synthesis gas into the useful product in a further chemical reaction requiring a usage ratio; wherein the fine synthesis gas H2:CO ratio is below the usage ratio and wherein any optional adjustment of at least part of the fine synthesis gas H.sub.2:CO ratio is effective to increase the H.sub.2:CO ratio in the fine synthesis gas to a level at, nearer to or above the usage ratio; wherein the H.sub.2:CO ratio of the raw synthesis gas fluctuates during operation of the process as a result of the fluctuating compositional characteristics of the carbonaceous feedstock by a percentage of ±x; and the H.sub.2:CO ratio of the equilibrated synthesis gas does not fluctuate during operation of the process or fluctuates during operation of the process as a result of the fluctuating compositional characteristics of the carbonaceous feedstock by a percentage±y, y being a lower percentage than x.

The present invention provides a process for the manufacture of a synthetic fuel comprising gasifying a carbonaceous feedstock comprising waste materials and/or biomass to generate a raw synthesis gas; supplying the raw synthesis gas to a primary clean-up zone to wash particulates and ammonia or HCl out of the raw synthesis gas; contacting the synthesis gas in a secondary clean-up zone with a physical solvent for sulphurous materials; contacting the desulphurised raw synthesis gas in a tertiary clean-up zone with a physical solvent for CO.sub.2 effective to absorb CO.sub.2; removing at least part of the absorbed CO.sub.2 in a solvent regeneration stage to recover CO.sub.2 in a form sufficiently pure for sequestration or other use; and supplying the clean synthesis gas to a further reaction train to generate a synthetic fuel.

Hydrogen-producing fuel processing systems and related methods. The systems include a hydrogen-producing region configured to produce a mixed gas stream from a feedstock stream, a hydrogen-separation membrane module having at least one hydrogen-selective membrane and configured to separate the mixed gas stream into a product hydrogen stream and a byproduct stream, and an oxidant delivery system configured to deliver an oxidant-containing stream to the hydrogen-separation membrane module in situ to increase hydrogen permeance of the hydrogen-selective membrane. The methods include operating a hydrogen-producing fuel processing system in a hydrogen-producing regime, and subsequently operating the hydrogen-producing fuel processing system in a restoration regime, in which an oxidant-containing stream is delivered to the hydrogen-separation membrane module in situ to expose the at least one hydrogen-selective membrane to the oxidant-containing stream to increase the hydrogen permeance of the at least one hydrogen-selective membrane.

A process for producing acetylene and syngas by partial oxidation of hydrocarbons with oxygen, involving: separately preheating a hydrocarbon and a oxygen-comprising input stream; mixing in a mass flow ratio of the oxygen-comprising to hydrocarbon stream at an oxygen number no more than 0.31; feeding the streams via a burner block to a combustion chamber and therein partially oxidizing the hydrocarbon(s) to a cracking gas; quenching the cracking gas to 80 to 90° C. downstream by injecting an aqueous quench medium to obtain a process water stream-1 and a product gas stream-2; cooling the product gas stream-2 in a cooling column by direct heat exchange with cooling water to obtain a process water stream-2 as bottoms, a product gas stream-2 as uppers, and a sidestream; and depleting the sidestream of soot in an electrofilter to generate therein a process water stream-3 combined with water streams-1/2 to afford the process water stream-4.