Combining multiple subsystems involving biomass processing, biomass gasification of the processed biomass where a synthesis gas is produced then converted to hydrogen fuels or other transportation fuels for use in coupled transportation systems sized to consume all the transportation fuel produced. Carbon in the biomass is converted to CO.sub.2 in the conversion process and a portion of that CO.sub.2 is captured and sequestrated for long term storage.

A method and an apparatus for treating comminuted waste material the method comprising: •a) heating comminuted waste material in a heating chamber (28) using one or more heating means (40a-f) to generate a combustible gas •b) measuring or determining the temperature in the heating chamber; •c) comparing the measured or determined temperature in the heating chamber ((28) with a predetermined temperature range; and •d) adjusting the amount of heat applied by the one or more heating means (40a-f) to the heating chamber (28) to maintain the temperature in the heating chamber within the predetermined temperature range.

There is disclosed a waste treatment process for a fossil-fuel extraction site (18, 40), comprising: processing extracted waste generated by a fossil-fuel extraction process to produce primary waste having a higher calorific value than the extracted waste; mixing the primary waste with secondary waste to generate pyrolysis feedstock, the secondary waste having a lower calorific value than the primary waste; pyrolysing the pyrolysis feedstock in a pyrolysis unit (32) to form pyrolysis char; and gasifying the pyrolysis char in a gasification unit (36) to form syngas and ash.

This invention relates to a method and a reactor for gasifying a carbonaceous feedstock material. The method includes the steps of choke-feeding a carbonaceous feedstock material into a pyrolysis zone of the reactor to form a discharge bed; heating the discharge bed to initiate pyrolysis of the feedstock material to form a pyrolysis product; providing a lower lying upper oxidation zone; gasifying the pyrolysis product to form a bed of char; converting thermal energy into chemical energy in an upper reduction zone; providing a lower lying lower oxidation zone; collecting any metal slag and/or slag melts in the lower oxidation zone; and discharging hot reducing gases having a temperature of at least 1300° C. and a CO/CO.sub.2 ratio of ≥5, more preferably ≥15.

A temperature measurement system for a gasifier may employ a first stage gasifier with a refractory wall that defines a first stage gasifier volume. A protruding refractory brick may protrude from the first stage refractory wall and into a gaseous flow path of the first stage gasifier volume. The temperature sensor may reside completely through the refractory wall, which may be a plurality of brick layers, except for a tip end of a temperature sensor that may reside in a blind or non-through hole within the protruding refractory brick. The protruding refractory brick protrudes beyond a normal wall surface of the plurality of brick layers that defines the first stage gasifier volume. The protruding refractory brick may have a face that forms an angle that is not 90 degrees, such as 45 degrees, relative to the gaseous flow path of the fluid stream through the first stage gasifier volume.

A treatment method and apparatus is provided to effectively use a combustible waste such as waste plastic, waste tires, rice husk, wood shavings, PKS, RDF and sludge while maintaining stable operation; to improve the combustion efficiency of a fossil fuel such as coal and coke; and furthermore to reduce the NOx concentration in a cement kiln exhaust gas. An apparatus 1 for treating a combustible, the apparatus comprising: a mixer 3 for mixing a combustible C with a preheated raw material R2, which has a temperature of 600° C. or higher and 900° C. or lower and which is drawn from a preheater cyclone of a cement burning device 10, to gasify the combustible; and a feeder 5 for feeding the gasified combustible and the preheated raw material (mixed raw material M) to a region from an inlet end 13a of the cement burning device to a calciner 12. When the combustible and the preheated raw material are mixed, moisture may be added to cause water gas shift reaction, and the resultant water gas and the preheated raw material may be introduced to the region from the inlet end of the cement burning device to the calciner.

In some variations, the invention provides a biocarbon pellet comprising: 35 wt % to 99 wt % of a biogenic reagent, wherein the biogenic reagent comprises, on a dry basis, at least 60 wt % carbon; 0 wt % to 35 wt % water moisture; and 1 wt % to 30 wt % of a binder, wherein the biocarbon pellet is characterized by an adjustable Hardgrove Grindability Index (HGI) from about 30 to about 120, as shown in the Examples. The pellet HGI is adjustable by controlling process conditions and the pellet binder. The binder can be an organic binder or an inorganic binder. The carbon is renewable as determined from a measurement of the .sup.14C/.sup.12C isotopic ratio. Many processes of making and using the biocarbon pellets are described. Applications of the biocarbon pellets include pulverized coal boilers, furnaces for making metals such as iron or silicon, and gasifiers for producing reducing gas.

Disclosed are a pulverized coal preprocessing method and a pulverized coal gasifying method. The pulverized coal preprocessing method comprises the following steps: (1) performing pore broadening on pulverized coal to obtain preprocessed pulverized coal; (2) loading alkali metal ions into the preprocessed pulverized coal under an ion exchange condition to obtain alkali metal loaded pulverized coal. The method further comprises loading a chrome complex into the alkali metal loaded pulverized coal obtained in described step (2). In gasification, the pulverized coal loaded with alkali metal potassium and chrome catalysts obtained by the method has the advantages of high sulphur removal rate, high carbon conversion rate, short gasifying reaction time and high methane production.

Carbonaceous-containing material including biomass, municipal solid waste, and/or coal and/or contaminated soil, and/or other carbonaceous materials may be gasified at low temperatures utilizing a reactor designed to generate shockwaves in a supersonic gaseous vortex. Preprocessed waste may be introduced into the reactor. A gas stream may be introduced substantially tangentially to an inner surface of a chamber of the reactor to generate a gaseous vortex rotating about a longitudinal axis within the chamber. The gas stream may be introduced using a nozzle that accelerates the gas stream to a supersonic velocity, and may impinge on an impactor positioned within the reactor chamber. A frequency of shockwaves emitted from the nozzle into the gaseous vortex may be controlled. The processed waste discharged from the reactor, which may include a gas component and at least a solid component, can be subjected to separation, and at least some of the gas component and at least one solid component (i.e., tars) may be fed back to the feeding device so that the solids from the processed waste condense on preprocessed waste contained in the feeding device and are reprocessed within the reactor. The gas component from the feeding device may be cleaned after the solids have been condensed out in the feeding device.

Processes for producing high biogenic concentration Fischer-Tropsch liquids derived from the organic fraction of municipal solid wastes (MSW) feedstock that contains a relatively high concentration of biogenic carbon (derived from plants) and a relatively low concentration of non-biogenic carbon (derived from fossil sources) wherein the biogenic content of the Fischer-Tropsch liquids is the same as the biogenic content of the feedstock.