A process for preparing synthetic hydrocarbons from a biomass feedstock is provided. The process involves electrolysis of steam and/or CO.sub.2, optionally along with a refinery gas in a high temperature co-electrolyzer (HTCE) to produce oxygen and hydrogen and/or enhanced hydrogen rich syngas. The oxygen generated via the electrolysis process is used for partial oxidation of a biomass feedstock in a gasifier to generate a hydrogen lean syngas. The hydrogen lean syngas is mixed with at least a portion of the hydrogen and/or enhanced hydrogen rich syngas generated via the high temperature electrolysis/co-electrolysis to formulate a hydrogen rich syngas. The hydrogen rich syngas is then reacted in a Fischer Tropsch (FT) reactor to produce synthetic hydrocarbons and refinery gas.

The present disclosure relates to a processes and systems for producing fuels from biomass with high carbon conversion efficiency. The processes and systems described herein provide a highly efficient process for producing hydrocarbons from biomass with very low Green House Gas (GHG) emissions using a specific combination of components, process flows, and recycle streams. The processes and systems described herein provide a carbon conversion efficiency greater than 95% with little to no GHG in the flue gas due to the novel arrangement of components and utilizes renewable energy to provide energy to some components. The system reuses water and carbon dioxide produced in the process flows and recycles naphtha and tail gas streams to other units in the system for additional conversion to syngas to produce hydrocarbon-based fuels.

An amount of atmospheric emission of carbon dioxide can be reduced by a method for producing a synthetic fuel including a gasification step G of gasifying waste by reacting it with oxygen and water at a high temperature, a carbon dioxide separation step S of separating carbon dioxide from a gasified gas G1 produced in the step G, an FT synthesis step FT of producing the synthetic fuel by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis from a synthetic gas G2 produced in the step S and a carbon dioxide electrolysis step E of electrolyzing the carbon dioxide separated in the step S to produce an electrolyzed gas G3 containing carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, the electrolyzed gas G3 produced in the carbon dioxide electrolysis step E being supplied to the carbon dioxide separation step S such that carbon dioxide is separated from the gasified gas G1 and the electrolyzed gas G3.

According to known methods, biomass is broken down under the action of water vapour via a carbon monoxide-hydrogen mixture (called synthesis gas) as an intermediate stage into hydrogen and carbon dioxide instead of being combusted directly to generate energy. Carbon dioxide is stored/sequestered and the hydrogen is used to generate energy. The transfer of bio-activity can also be effected within the same process by breaking down a mixture of biomass and fossil fuel (e.g. wood and coal) into carbon dioxide and hydrogen. The hydrogen is then reacted with half of the formed carbon dioxide to form methane and the remaining carbon dioxide is stored. The stored carbon dioxide and generated methane respectively comprise one half each of biological and fossil carbon. If the bio-activity of the stored biocarbon dioxide is transferred to the fossil carbon in methane, a corresponding mixture of wood and coal produces 100% biomethane. Here, too, up to 100% biomethane can be obtained from coal-wood mixtures. By adding the hydrogen obtained from excess electrical energy to the biocarbon, the bio-energy based on the biomass used is even quadrupled. For a traceable eco-balance with such mixtures, it is important to quantify the bio-proportion in the two end products stored carbon dioxide and generated methane. For this purpose, use is made e.g. of the radiocarbon (C14) method.

The invention is a process and apparatus for producing bioethanol without CO.sub.2 emissions by anaerobic fermentation of a synthesis gas, produced by the thermal conversion at high temperature of a feed consisting of municipal solid waste (MSW), agricultural waste or derivatives thereof such as refuse derived fuel (RED) or even industrial waste such as non-recyclable plastic waste or a combination thereof, to which extra hydrogen is added through electrolysis so as to balance the H.sub.2/CO ratio, thus maximizing the conversion of the organic components in the fermentation step so as to prevent any emission of CO.sub.2 into the atmosphere.

A method for the conversion of organic waste and/or biological waste into combustible products includes: feeding a first flow having organic waste and/or biological waste: performing a pyrolysis of the first flow to obtain one or more liquid pyrolysis products, one or more gaseous pyrolysis products, and one or more solid pyrolysis products; mixing the one or more solid pyrolysis products with a first aqueous flow, and subjecting the mixture to oxidation to obtain oxidation products; taking a first gaseous flow from the oxidation products; subjecting the one or more gaseous pyrolysis products to reforming, thereby obtaining one or more reforming products, taking a second gaseous flow from the reforming products, and subjecting the first gaseous flow and the second gaseous flow to catalytic hydrogenation, to obtain at least one first combustible.

A device includes a gasifier to produce a gaseous compound from a biomass. The gasifier includes inlets for the biomass and for an oxidizing agent and an outlet for the gaseous compound including carbon monoxide. A first methanation unit to methanate the carbon monoxide to produce a substitute natural gas exiting the gasifier. The first methanation unit includes at least one inlet for water and an inlet for the gaseous compound coming from the gasifier. A second methanation unit to methanate the carbon dioxide to produce the substitute natural gas. The second methanation unit includes at least one inlet for water and one inlet for the carbon dioxide from the first methanation unit. A dihydrogen producing unit to produce dihydrogen from water and electric current. The dihydrogen producing unit includes an electrical power supply, an inlet for water and an outlet for dihydrogen supplying the second methanation unit.

A chemical conversion process includes a synthesis step (10) that takes, as input, reactants that include at least dihydrogen and carbon monoxide and that gives, as output, a synthetic compound such as an engine fuel, water and overhead gases, a step of recovering all or some of the overhead gases resulting from the synthesis step and a step of producing dihydrogen, in particular electrochemically (14), by a conversion of the overhead gases recovered in the recovering step.

Systems and methods for producing green hydrogen from a source material (e.g., biowaste) are contemplated. The source material is at least partially dehydrated to produce a dried intermediate and recovered water. The dried intermediate is pyrolyzed to produce syngas and a char. The recovered water is electrolyzed to produce oxygen and green hydrogen.

An integrated process and system with processes configured to generate liquid fuels, electricity, and heat from carbonaceous fuel sources. The preferred system combines and maximizes the carbon and energy conversion potential and efficiency of the associated components or subsystems to produce a system for the co-production of fuels and electricity from syngas. The process can produce liquid fuels and electricity from carbonaceous feedstock at net thermal energy efficiencies of greater than 40-50%, which are significantly higher than fuel synthesis or electricity generation alone.