Fuel and fuel additives can be produced by processes that provide Fischer-Tropsch liquids having high biogenic carbon concentrations of up to about 100% biogenic carbon. The fuels and fuel additive have essentially the same high biogenic concentration as the Fischer-Tropsch liquids which, in turn, contain the same concentration of biogenic carbon as the feedstock.

Fuel and fuel additives can be produced by processes that provide Fischer-Tropsch liquids having high biogenic carbon concentrations of up to about 100% biogenic carbon. The fuels and fuel additive have essentially the same high biogenic concentration as the Fischer-Tropsch liquids which, in turn, contain the same concentration of biogenic carbon as the feedstock.

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.

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.

The present invention provides a process for the manufacture of a synthetic fuel comprising gasifying a carbonaceous feedstock comprising waste materials and/or biomass to generate a raw synthesis gas; supplying the raw synthesis gas to a primary clean-up zone to wash particulates and ammonia or HCl out of the raw synthesis gas; contacting the synthesis gas in a secondary clean-up zone with a physical solvent for sulphurous materials; contacting the desulphurised raw synthesis gas in a tertiary clean-up zone with a physical solvent for CO.sub.2 effective to absorb CO.sub.2; removing at least part of the absorbed CO.sub.2 in a solvent regeneration stage to recover CO.sub.2 in a form sufficiently pure for sequestration or other use; and supplying the clean synthesis gas to a further reaction train to generate a synthetic fuel.

A fuel cell system for removing carbon dioxide from anode exhaust gas includes: a fuel cell having an anode configured to output an anode exhaust gas comprising hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and water; an anode gas oxidizer; and an absorption system configured to receive the anode exhaust gas, the absorption system including: an absorber column configured to absorb the carbon dioxide from the anode exhaust gas in a solvent and to output a resultant gas comprising hydrogen and a hydrocarbon that is at least partially recycled to the anode; and a stripper column configured to regenerate the solvent and to output a carbon dioxide-rich stream. The anode gas oxidizer is configured to receive and oxidize an anode gas oxidizer input stream and at least a portion of the carbon dioxide-rich stream. The anode gas oxidizer input stream comprises a portion of the anode exhaust gas.

Systems and methods for processing waste plastics are provided. One method includes mixing, heating and compacting a supply of the waste plastic based feedstock having an appreciable amount of halide compounds or heteroatoms from one or more sources of contamination; providing an amendment comprising alkaline earth oxides and/or hydroxides, oxides of iron, and/or oxides of aluminum to be mixed, heated and compacted with the waste plastic based feedstock to form a densified melt of plastic material including the amendment; and pyrolyzing the densified melt of plastic material including the amendment within a pyrolysis reactor. Another method includes pyrolyzing a supply of the waste plastic feedstock within a pyrolysis reactor to generate a hydrocarbon gas stream and a solids residue stream; condensing out a tars product from the hydrocarbon gas stream output from the pyrolysis reactor with a quenching apparatus; and pyrolyzing the tars product within a supplemental pyrolysis reactor.

A method for processing feedstock is described, characterized in that incoming feedstock is processed to selectively recover biogenic carbon material from the incoming feedstock. In some embodiments the incoming feedstock is comprised of mixed solid waste, such as municipal solid waste (MSW). In other embodiments the incoming feedstock is comprised of woody biomass. In some instances, the incoming feedstock is processed to selectively recover biogenic carbon material from the incoming feedstock to produce a processed feedstock having biogenic carbon content of 50% and greater suitable for conversion into biogenic carbon Fischer Tropsch liquids. The high biogenic carbon Fischer Tropsch liquids may be upgraded to biogenic carbon liquid fuels. Alternatively, the incoming feedstock is processed to selectively recover plastic material from the incoming feedstock to produce a processed feedstock having biogenic carbon content of 50% or less.

A method for processing feedstock is described, characterized in that incoming feedstock is processed to selectively recover biogenic carbon material from the incoming feedstock. In some embodiments the incoming feedstock is comprised of mixed solid waste, such as municipal solid waste (MSW). In other embodiments the incoming feedstock is comprised of woody biomass. In some instances, the incoming feedstock is processed to selectively recover biogenic carbon material from the incoming feedstock to produce a processed feedstock having biogenic carbon content of 50% and greater suitable for conversion into biogenic carbon Fischer Tropsch liquids. The high biogenic carbon Fischer Tropsch liquids may be upgraded to biogenic carbon liquid fuels. Alternatively, the incoming feedstock is processed to selectively recover plastic material from the incoming feedstock to produce a processed feedstock having biogenic carbon content of 50% or less.

The present invention provides a process for the manufacture of a useful product from carbonaceous feedstock of fluctuating compositional characteristics, the process comprising the steps of: continuously providing the carbonaceous feedstock of fluctuating compositional characteristics to a gasification zone; gasifying the carbonaceous feedstock in the gasification zone to obtain raw synthesis gas; sequentially removing ammoniacal, sulphurous and carbon dioxide impurities from the raw synthesis gas to form desulphurised gas and recovering carbon dioxide in substantially pure form; converting at least a portion of the desulphurised synthesis gas to a useful product. Despite having selected a more energy intensive sub-process i.e. physical absorption for removal of acid gas impurities, the overall power requirement of the facility is lower on account of lower steam requirements and thereby leading to a decrease in the carbon intensity score for the facility.