A process and apparatus are provided in the present invention for treatment of particulate biomass. The present process comprises a densification stage, a first treatment stage, a second treatment stage, a cooling stage; the present apparatus comprises a thermo-chemical treatment chamber which is a two-stage compact moving bed type including two compartments for pre-torrefaction and torrefaction and having a star or spider or ring formic hot gas distribution system equipped with at least one hot gas input and at least one hot gas output for each compartment, and at least one particulate biomass inlet and at least one particulate biomass outlet.

The present invention concerns a suspension comprising carbonaceous material particles, an alkoxylated phenol surfactant, and an aqueous liquid phase providing a high stability to the suspensions over time. The invention also concerns a process for the production of said suspensions and methods for generating power comprising combustion of said suspensions, notably with appropriate devices.

A high-energy water-resistant pellet of at least 75% biomass material such as torrefied wood, whole-tree (white) wood, agricultural waste, flax and the like. and the remainder a binder comprising from about 2% to about 20% by total weight of the pellet. The binder is a two-component systema plasticizer, such as tall oil pitch, rosin, fatty acid, vegetable oils, animal oils, corn protein and glycerinpreferably from 3% to about 20% of the binder, and lignin from about 80-97% of the binder.

An apparatus to convert carbonaceous materials, particularly biomass and those biomass resources which are remotely located, into a solid material, which may be a high performance solid fuel, are presented. The apparatus provides a continuous process which can be completely powered by the energy contained in the biomass. The heat, mechanical power and electrical power are provided from the energy in the biomass, through the methods described. In this way, the apparatus is free to operate in remote locations, where no power or auxiliary fuel sources are available.

A system for pre-conditioning of biomass for subsequent torrefaction of the biomass comprises a burner producing combustion gases. A feed screw unit has an inlet for receiving the biomass, an outlet for outletting the biomass, and a feed screw for displacing the biomass from the inlet to the outlet. A sleeve surrounds and is in heat exchange relation with at least part of the feed screw unit. A pneumatic circuit receives combustion gases from the burner, the pneumatic circuit connected to an inlet of the sleeve for directing combustion gases therein to heat the biomass by indirect contact via the heat exchange relation, the pneumatic circuit having a pipe section extending from the outlet of the feed screw unit to a torrefaction reactor with combustion gases flowing from the outlet of the sleeve to the torrefacton reactor to convey the biomass and the combustion gases to the torrefaction reactor.

In one aspect, a gasification system for use with low rank fuel is provided The system includes a pyrolysis unit positioned to receive a feed of low rank fuel, the pyrolysis unit being configured to pyrolyze the low rank fuel to produce pyrolysis gas and fixed carbon. The system also includes a gasifier configured to produce a syngas stream using the received fixed carbon, a cooler configured to receive and cool the syngas stream, and a first conduit coupled between the cooler and the pyrolysis unit. The first conduit is configured to recycle at least a portion of the syngas stream to the pyrolysis unit such that the recycled syngas stream is mixed with the pyrolysis gas to produce a hydrocarbon-rich syngas stream containing gasification by-products. The system also includes a by-product recovery system coupled to the pyrolysis unit for removing the gasification by-products from the hydrocarbon-rich syngas stream.

The presently disclosed subject matter relates to torrefied biomass briquettes and methods for producing the same that make use of a mixture of lightly torrefied material (LTM) and highly torrefied material (HTM) and/or make use of torrefied materials that are subjected to a hydrolysis pretreatment prior to being torrefied.

A thermal processing apparatus and a thermal processing method where the vessel with interconnected chambers in which the solid material is thermally processed is suspended in a heat exchange medium while it is rotated, which reduces the energy to rotate the vessel, increases heat transfer surface area, increases the turbulence of the heat exchange medium around the vessel and improves the movement of solid particles relative to each other and relative to the heat exchange surface. These features combine to increase the heat transfer rates within a compact vessel size.

A method to convert carbonaceous materials, particularly biomass and those biomass resources which are remotely located, into a high performance solid fuel. This method, and the apparatus described as the means to accomplish this method, provides a continuous process which can be completely powered by the energy contained in the biomass. The heat, mechanical power and electrical power are provided from the energy in the biomass, through the methods described. In this way, the apparatus is free to operate in remote locations, where no power or auxiliary fuel sources are available.

A process is provided for converting waste fibers to solid fuel. The process includes providing a supply of animal waste including the waste fibers in a predetermined quantity, subjecting the supply of animal waste to anaerobic digestion, producing a waste byproduct, dewatering the waste byproduct, and compressing the dewatered waste byproduct to form briquettes.