A method for recovering fibers embedded in a composite material including loading a furnace chamber with a volume of the composite material; thermolyzing the composite material in the furnace chamber, resulting in a gaseous fraction that is continuously evacuated from the furnace chamber, and a residue of fibers covered with char that is left in the furnace chamber; cracking the gaseous fraction from the thermolyzing operation, resulting in a mixture of condensable and non-condensable gases that can be recycled; injecting a stream of an oxygen-containing gas into the still hot furnace chamber after the thermolyzing is completed therein, to burn the char from the fibers in an exothermic combustion.

A hermetically sealed flow-through reactor for non-oxidative thermal degradation of a rubber containing waste into a char product, the reactor having an internal cylindrical surface, and the reactor including: one or more thermal reaction zones arranged between the inlet and the outlet, wherein each zone is provided with: one or more heating elements controllable to heat the zone to an operating temperature, and one or more gas outlets for withdrawing gas or gases evolved during the degradation of the rubber; and a screw auger located within the reactor, the screw augur configured to rotate in both the forward and reverse directions to agitate and transport the rubber containing waste to the outlet, wherein fighting on the screw auger tracks the internal cylindrical surface of the reactor in close relationship to minimise or prevent the transport of material through a clearance space between outer edges of the fighting and the internal cylindrical surface of the reactor.

The present invention includes a system and a method for the refinement of char and the manufacture of regenerated carbon black through waste tire pyrolysis, wherein, in a process of refining char obtained through a pyrolysis process of a waste tires, volatile constituents of char are preferentially removed prior to molding using a pyrolysis furnace having a continuous-type configuration and capable of operating in a continuous manner, and microparticular or microparticle-type regenerated carbon black is produced using the resulting char of increased purity as a material and then molded into spheres with water serving as a binder, whereby regenerated carbon black of high quality can be produced, with the concomitant achievement of cost reduction and an increase in output in the process of producing corresponding spherical regenerated carbon black.

This disclosure provides a method of making a high-fixed-carbon material comprising pyrolyzing biomass to generate intermediate solids and a pyrolysis vapor; condensing the pyrolysis vapor to generate pyrolysis liquid; blending the pyrolysis liquid with the intermediate solids, to generate a mixture; and further pyrolyzing the mixture to generate a high-fixed-carbon material. A process can comprise: pyrolyzing a biomass-comprising feedstock in a first pyrolysis reactor to generate a first biogenic reagent and a first pyrolysis vapor; introducing the first pyrolysis vapor to a condensing system to generate a condenser liquid; contacting the first biogenic reagent with the condenser liquid, thereby generating an intermediate material; further pyrolyzing the intermediate material in a second pyrolysis reactor to generate a second biogenic reagent and a second pyrolysis vapor; and recovering the second biogenic reagent as a high-yield biocarbon composition. The process can further comprise pelletizing the intermediate material. Many process and system configurations are disclosed.

The invention provides a carbonaceous feed pyrolysis apparatus including two or more hot particle fluidised beds, and material transfer means for the transfer of hot catalyst particles between two or more of the beds, wherein one or more of the 5 fluidised beds is a gasifier which contains a gasification zone and one or more of the fluidised beds is a pyrolysis reactor which contains a pyrolysis zone, so that the particles are recirculated and serve as an energy carrier to drive pyrolysis in the pyrolysis zone. The invention extends to a carbonaceous feed pyrolysis process using said apparatus.

Herein disclosed are apparatus and associated methods related to producing an enhanced surface area biochar product with a desired activation level based on receiving biochar into a processing vessel configured with multiple independently temperature-controlled chambers and counter-flow steam injection, controlling activation levels of the biochar by moving the biochar through the processing vessel and adjusting the temperature of the biochar by injecting steam into at least one temperature-controlled chamber of the processing vessel, recovering volatiles driven off through dehydration using a thermal oxidizer, cooling the biochar to a desired discharge temperature using steam and retention time, and discharging the activated biochar product. The processing vessel may be a calciner, a rotary calciner, or a kiln. Biochar may be heated or cooled to a desired thermochemical processing temperature depending on the temperature of the received biochar. Counter-flow saturated steam may sweep volatile gases to a thermal oxidizer using a vacuum system.

The invention provides a method of sequential pyrolysis and carbon deposition to produce a composite carbonaceous product, the method comprising: a pyrolysis process step comprising pyrolyzing a pyrolyzable organic feed at a pyrolysis temperature in a first reaction zone in the presence of a non-oxidising gas to produce hot char and pyrolysis gas, wherein the pyrolysis gas and the non-oxidising gas combine to form a gas mixture; discharging the gas mixture from the first reaction zone to a combustion zone and combusting at least a portion of the pyrolysis gas therein, wherein heat produced by the combusting of the pyrolysis gas is transmitted from the combustion zone to the first reaction zone to provide at least a portion of the heat of pyrolysis; and a decomposition process step comprising contacting a hydrocarbon-rich organic gas with the hot char directly after its production in the pyrolysis process step, wherein the hydrocarbon-rich organic gas catalytically decomposes on the hot char at a decomposition temperature which is higher than the pyrolysis temperature, thereby producing gaseous decomposition products comprising hydrogen and a composite carbonaceous material comprising the char with carbon deposits thereon.

This disclosure provides a method of making a high-fixed-carbon material comprising pyrolyzing biomass to generate intermediate solids and a pyrolysis vapor; condensing the pyrolysis vapor to generate pyrolysis liquid; blending the pyrolysis liquid with the intermediate solids, to generate a mixture; and further pyrolyzing the mixture to generate a high-fixed-carbon material. A process can comprise: pyrolyzing a biomass-comprising feedstock in a first pyrolysis reactor to generate a first biogenic reagent and a first pyrolysis vapor; introducing the first pyrolysis vapor to a condensing system to generate a condenser liquid; contacting the first biogenic reagent with the condenser liquid, thereby generating an intermediate material; further pyrolyzing the intermediate material in a second pyrolysis reactor to generate a second biogenic reagent and a second pyrolysis vapor; and recovering the second biogenic reagent as a high-yield biocarbon composition. The process can further comprise pelletizing the intermediate material. Many process and system configurations are disclosed.

Some variations provide a process for producing biocarbon pellets, comprising: pyrolyzing a biomass-containing feedstock in a first pyrolysis reactor to generate a first biogenic reagent and a pyrolysis vapor; introducing the pyrolysis vapor to a separation unit, to generate a pyrolysis precipitate in liquid or solid form; contacting the first biogenic reagent with the pyrolysis precipitate, thereby generating an intermediate material; pelletizing the intermediate material, to generate intermediate pellets; optionally, drying the intermediate pellets; separately pyrolyzing the intermediate pellets in a second pyrolysis reactor to generate a second biogenic reagent and a pyrolysis off-gas; and recovering the second biogenic reagent as biocarbon pellets. Some variations provide a similar process that utilizes a carbon-containing condensed-matter material, which is not necessarily a pyrolysis precipitate. The disclosure provides improved processes for producing biocarbon compositions, especially with respect to carbon yield and biocarbon properties, such as reactivity.

Herein disclosed are apparatus and associated methods related to producing an enhanced surface area biochar product with a desired activation level based on receiving biochar into a processing vessel configured with multiple independently temperature-controlled chambers and counter-flow steam injection, controlling activation levels of the biochar by moving the biochar through the processing vessel and adjusting the temperature of the biochar by injecting steam into at least one temperature-controlled chamber of the processing vessel, recovering volatiles driven off through dehydration using a thermal oxidizer, cooling the biochar to a desired discharge temperature using steam and retention time, and discharging the activated biochar product. The processing vessel may be a calciner, a rotary calciner, or a kiln. Biochar may be heated or cooled to a desired thermochemical processing temperature depending on the temperature of the received biochar. Counter-flow saturated steam may sweep volatile gases to a thermal oxidizer using a vacuum system.