This invention relates to a method and apparatus for thermochemically processing material, and in particular relates to the torrefaction of organic material such as biomass, in particular to improve the energy content of the material, the method involving enclosing the material in a reactor which is then evacuated by means of a fluid driven vacuum pump to establish an oxygen free environment within the reactor, heating the material to above 200° C. to liberate process by-products such as volatile gases and/or oils, extracting the liberated volatile gases and/or oils from the enclosure and entraining same within the fluid driving the vacuum pump.

The present invention describes a process for the production of biofuel, said process comprising, pretreating a feedstock, mixing a catalyst with said feedstock, transferring the mixture of catalyst and feedstock into a reactor, and subjecting said mixture to a heating sequence by applying microwave energy thereto, wherein the catalyst comprises an aluminosillicate mineral, the percentage of aluminosillicate mineral in the catalyst-feedstock mixture is less than 10% (w/w), and the temperature of the mixture of catalyst and feedstock is no higher than 450° C. during the process.

The present disclosure provides a method for separating a feed stream in a distillation tower. The method may include forming solids in a controlled freeze zone section of the distillation tower; emitting radiation from a first radiation source in the controlled freeze zone section while the controlled freeze zone section forms no solids; detecting radiation emitted by the first radiation source as a first radiation level; detecting radiation emitted by the first radiation source as a second radiation level after detecting the first radiation level; and determining whether the solids adhered to at least one of on and around a first mechanical component included in the controlled freeze zone section based on the first radiation level and the second radiation level.

A process for making biochar from a processed organic-carbon-containing feedstock is described. The processed feedstock is introduced into a substantially microwave-transparent reaction chamber. A microwave source emits microwaves which are directed through the microwave-transparent wall of the reaction chamber to impinge on the feedstock within the reaction chamber. The microwave source may be rotated relative to the reaction chamber. The feedstock is subjected to microwaves until the desired reaction occurs to produce a solid processed biochar fuel.

An organic waste digester system is provided. The system includes a heated hopper unit within the housing to receive organic waste. An agitation mechanism mixes the organic waste along with a microbe mixture to aid breakdown of the waste. Liquefied organic waste is discharged through an outlet and conveyed to a drying unit downstream of the hopper unit. The drying unit includes a microwave dryer unit.

Disclosed herein is a binder-free product and process for making the product. The product is a mechanically stable, water resistant torrefied biomass product that does not comprise an extrinsic binder additive. The product is made using a combination of appropriate pre-treatment steps and compressing the conditioned biomass feedstock into a thermally managed compaction device comprising at least one modified die. The modified die allows for differential cooling/heating modifications so as to control the temperature near the entrance to the compaction device and passing the formed torrefied biomass into a post-formation curing zone.

A high-efficiency food waste carbonization process using a carbonizer specially designed to function at a specific range of temperatures to work efficiently, with minimal energy input and designed to reduce volume and to produce charcoal that may be used as a fuel. The invention is designed to work with high-moisture materials such as food waste.

The present disclosure provides methods for identifying a hydrocarbon fuel, such as the presence and/or amounts of marker compounds having a fluorescence intensity and, through correlation, the presence and/or amounts of additive package(s) within the hydrocarbon fuel.

A distillation apparatus for use in microwave-assisted pyrolysis includes a microwave, a pyrolysis reactor, a microwave-absorbent bed, and a condenser. The pyrolysis reactor is located within the microwave and configured to receive a liquid input stream and to output a vapor. The microwave-absorbent bed is located within the pyrolysis reactor that converts microwave energy provided by the microwave to thermal energy to initiate pyrolysis within the pyrolysis reactor, wherein the pyrolysis reactor provides a vapor output. The condenser is configured to receive the vapor output of the pyrolysis reactor and to cool and condense the vapor into a recoverable product.

A process for converting waste plastic into oil includes: subjecting the waste plastic to be in contact with a plurality of far-infrared ray heating rods in a reactor which contains an agitator configured to distribute the waste plastic; converting the waste plastic into a liquid form resultant decomposition by thermal decomposition and pyrolysis in the reactor; fractionating the resultant decomposition product to obtain gas, light oil, and crude diesel oil; obtaining a sludge from a bottom portion of the reactor and transferring the sludge to a blending tank; transferring the light oil to the blending tank; mixing the sludge and the light oil using a high-speed shearing machine to produce a sludge and light oil mixture; transferring the sludge and light oil mixture to a homogenizer; and blending the sludge and light oil mixture at the homogenizer to form a blended oil.