Existing approaches to refuse handling are all based on historical approaches which rely on a network of refuse collection vehicles collecting waste from individual households and delivering this to a centralised landfill or MBI location. This is highly undesirable and wasteful. An alternative process is disclosed, relying on the thermal treatment of waste and like products produced or brought in to the residential property and processed within the domestic curtilage to produce fuel or other forms of energy. Thus, domestic waste will be thermally treated at the home instead of being collected by local authorities and disposed of. The waste input put material will be loaded into a domestically engineered thermal conversion unit either directly or after a pre-process such as shredding. The feedstock will be converted into fuels by a thermal treatment, such as pyrolysis. The resultant output of oil and gas can either be stored or fed into a boiler unit to be used as a fuel to produce hot water, or used to run an electricity generating unit to power the dwelling in question or for supply to a feed-in tariff. Thus, a domestic dwelling includes a thermal treatment unit for processing waste produced in the dwelling, an output of the thermal treatment unit being combusted for producing an energy output for the dwelling. A suitable pyrolysis chamber is disclosed.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for processing reusable fuel wherein the apparatus comprises a support body and a plurality of augers disposed within the support body. The augers may be configured to rotate against a vapor flow to clean carbon char from vapors comprising condensable and non-condensable hydrocarbons. A drive system may be connected to drive and control the plurality of augers. An exhaust system is connected to the support body. A gearbox housing is connected to the exhaust system, wherein the drive system is accommodated in the gearbox housing. A ventilation system is disposed within the gearbox housing. Additionally, a thermal expansion system may be connected to the support body.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for processing reusable fuel wherein the apparatus comprises a support body and a plurality of augers disposed within the support body. The augers may be configured to rotate against a vapor flow to clean carbon char from vapors comprising condensable and non-condensable hydrocarbons. A drive system may be connected to drive and control the plurality of augers. An exhaust system is connected to the support body. A gearbox housing is connected to the exhaust system, wherein the drive system is accommodated in the gearbox housing. A ventilation system is disposed within the gearbox housing. Additionally, a thermal expansion system may be connected to the support body.

The disclosure relates to a process for converting lignocellulosic feedstock (10) to renewable product (80), wherein the process comprises the following steps; treating (100) lignocellulosic feedstock (10) with aqueous solution (20) to obtain a mixture (30); heating (110) the mixture (30) of step (a) to a temperature between 290 and 340° C., under a pressure from 90 to 120 bar, to obtain a first product mix (40); separating aqueous phase (53) and oil phase (50), and optionally gas (51) and solids (52), of the first product mix (40) of step (b); and heating (130) the oil phase (50) of step (c) and solvent (60). The heating (130) is optionally followed by fractionation (200) to obtain a light fraction (90) and a heavy fraction (91) and optionally a bottom residue fraction (92) and/or a gaseous fraction.

The disclosure relates to a process for converting lignocellulosic feedstock (10) to renewable product (80), wherein the process comprises the following steps; treating (100) lignocellulosic feedstock (10) with aqueous solution (20) to obtain a mixture (30); heating (110) the mixture (30) of step (a) to a temperature between 290 and 340° C., under a pressure from 90 to 120 bar, to obtain a first product mix (40); separating aqueous phase (53) and oil phase (50), and optionally gas (51) and solids (52), of the first product mix (40) of step (b); and heating (130) the oil phase (50) of step (c) and solvent (60). The heating (130) is optionally followed by fractionation (200) to obtain a light fraction (90) and a heavy fraction (91) and optionally a bottom residue fraction (92) and/or a gaseous fraction.

A feedstock flexible process for converting feedstock into oil and gas includes (i) indirectly heated hydrous devolatilization of volatile feedstock components, (ii) indirectly heated thermochemical conversion of fixed carbon feedstock components, (iii) heat integration and recovery, (iv) vapor and gas pressurization, and (v) vapor and gas clean-up and product recovery. A system and method for feedstock conversion includes a thermochemical reactor integrated with one or more hydrous devolatilization and solids circulation subsystems configured to accept a feedstock mixture, comprised of volatile feedstock components and fixed carbon feedstock components, and continuously produce a volatile reaction product stream therefrom, while simultaneously and continuously capturing, transferring, and converting the fixed carbon feedstock components to syngas.

A feedstock flexible process for converting feedstock into oil and gas includes (i) indirectly heated hydrous devolatilization of volatile feedstock components, (ii) indirectly heated thermochemical conversion of fixed carbon feedstock components, (iii) heat integration and recovery, (iv) vapor and gas pressurization, and (v) vapor and gas clean-up and product recovery. A system and method for feedstock conversion includes a thermochemical reactor integrated with one or more hydrous devolatilization and solids circulation subsystems configured to accept a feedstock mixture, comprised of volatile feedstock components and fixed carbon feedstock components, and continuously produce a volatile reaction product stream therefrom, while simultaneously and continuously capturing, transferring, and converting the fixed carbon feedstock components to syngas.

A method of continuously recovering hydrocarbons from carbon ores can include providing first and second vessels containing rubblized carbon ore. A cooling fuel gas can be introduced into the first vessel. The cooling fuel gas can include oxygen and a recycle gas from the second vessel, which includes hydrocarbons and oxidation products. The oxygen can be consumed through oxidation in an oxidation zone in the first vessel. The temperature of the oxidation zone can be controlled by limiting the oxygen concentration in the cooling fuel gas. This can produce a hot oxidation product gas that heats rubblized carbon ore in a pyrolysis zone downstream of the oxidation zone. Gaseous and vapor hydrocarbons can be produced in the pyrolysis zone. The vapor hydrocarbons can be condensed in a condensing zone downstream of the pyrolysis zone and then collected. The remaining gaseous hydrocarbons and oxidation products can be recycled as the recycle gas. The oxidation zone and the pyrolysis zone can continuously move through the rubblized carbon ore in a downstream direction. Optionally, by using nitrogen free oxygen for the oxidation, a nitrogen free stream of carbon dioxide is produced suitable for carbon dioxide capture and management. This can also eliminate the production of NOx in the oxidation process.

A method of producing advanced carbon materials can include providing coal to a processing facility, beneficiating the coal to remove impurities from the coal, processing the beneficiated coal to produce a pitch, and treating the pitch to produce an advanced carbon material such as carbon fibers, carbon nanotubes, graphene, resins, polymers, biomaterials, or other carbon materials.

A method of producing advanced carbon materials can include providing coal to a processing facility, beneficiating the coal to remove impurities from the coal, processing the beneficiated coal to produce a pitch, and treating the pitch to produce an advanced carbon material such as carbon fibers, carbon nanotubes, graphene, resins, polymers, biomaterials, or other carbon materials.