A method of producing liquid fuel and/or chemicals from a carbonaceous material entails combusting a conditioned syngas in pulse combustion heat exchangers of a steam reformer to help convert carbonaceous material into first reactor product gas which includes carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and other gases. A portion of the first reactor product gas is transferred to a hydrogen reformer into which additional conditioned syngas is added and a reaction carried out to produce an improved syngas. The improved syngas is then subject to one or more gas clean-up steps to form a new conditioned syngas. A portion of the new conditioned syngas is recycled to be used as the conditioned syngas in the pulse combustion heat exchangers and in the hydrocarbon reformer. A system for carrying out the method include, a steam reformer, a hydrocarbon reformer, first and second gas-cleanup systems, a synthesis system and an upgrading system.

A process for large scale and energy efficient production of oxygenates from sugar is disclosed in which a sugar feedstock is introduced into a thermolytic fragmentation reactor including a fluidized stream of heat carrying particles which are separated from the reaction product and directed to a reheater comprising a resistance heating system.

A method of producing liquid fuel and/or chemicals from a carbonaceous material entails combusting a conditioned syngas in pulse combustion heat exchangers of a steam reformer to help convert carbonaceous material into first reactor product gas which includes carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and other gases. A portion of the first reactor product gas is transferred to a hydrogen reformer into which additional conditioned syngas is added and a reaction carried out to produce an improved syngas. The improved syngas is then subject to one or more gas clean-up steps to form a new conditioned syngas. A portion of the new conditioned syngas is recycled to be used as the conditioned syngas in the pulse combustion heat exchangers and in the hydrocarbon reformer. A system for carrying out the method include, a steam reformer, a hydrocarbon reformer, first and second gas-cleanup systems, a synthesis system and an upgrading system.

Mechanical stirred bed reactors that incorporate a screen are described. Methods of using such reactors to process perfluoropolymers to form perfluorinated olefin monomers are also described. The reactors and methods may be used to upcycle filled perfluorinated materials.

Steam-hydrocarbon reforming reactor with a reformer tube containing ceramic-supported catalyst pellets and metal foam particles. The ceramic-supported catalyst pellets have a porous support comprising one or more of alumina, calcium aluminate, and magnesium aluminate. The metal foam particles comprise Fe and/or Ni. The ceramic-supported catalyst pellets and metal foam particles may be layered or interspersed.

A heat recovery system for plasma reformers is comprised of a cascade of regenerators and recuperators that are arranged to transfer in stages the heat at high temperatures for storage, transport, and recirculation. Recirculation of heat increases the efficiency of plasma reformers and heat exchanging reduces temperature of the product for downstream applications.

A multi-stage product gas generation system converts a carbonaceous material, such as municipal solid waste, into a product gas which may subsequently be converted into a liquid fuel or other material. One or more reactors containing bed material may be used to conduct reactions to effect the conversions. Unreacted inert feedstock contaminants present in the carbonaceous material may be separated from bed material using a portion of the product gas. A heat transfer medium collecting heat from a reaction in one stage may be applied as a reactant input in another, earlier stage.

Devices and methods for preparing oxygen-containing liquid fuel by bio-oil catalytic conversion. A device includes a biomass fast thermal cracking system for preparing bio-oil, a bio-oil oil-water separating system for separating the bio-oil into oil phase bio-oil and water phase bio-oil that is output to an oil phase bio-oil chemical chain hydrogen production system, and a water phase bio-oil catalytic hydrogenation system. The hydrogen production system outputs produced hydrogen to the water phase bio-oil catalytic hydrogenation system to prepare a liquid fuel. A method includes the steps: thermally cracking the biomass to prepare bio-oil, separating the water phase and the oil phase, producing hydrogen from the oil phase bio-oil through a chemical chain method so as to provide a hydrogen source for the water phase bio-oil to carry out two-stage catalytic hydrogenation in a slurry bed, and separating and purifying the hydrogenated products to obtain an oxygen-containing liquid fuel.

The invention relates to an improved method for chemical-looping combustion of a solid hydrocarbon-containing feed using a particular configuration of the reduction zone with: a first reaction zone R1 operating under dense fluidized bed conditions; a second reaction zone R2; a fast separation zone S3 for separation of the unburnt solid feed particles, of fly ashes and of the oxygen-carrying material particles within a mixture coming from zone R2; fumes dedusting S4; a particle stream division zone D7, part of the particles being directly recycled to first reaction zone R1, the other part being sent to an elutriation separation zone S5 in order to collect the ashes through a line 18 and to recycle the dense particles through a line 20 to first reaction zone R1. The invention also relates to a chemical-looping combustion plant allowing said method to be implemented.

The invention relates to a catalyst arrangement for preparing phthalic anhydride by gas-phase oxidation of aromatic hydrocarbons, which comprises a reactor having a gas inlet end for a feed gas and a gas outlet end for a product gas and also a first catalyst zone made up of catalyst bodies and at least one second catalyst zone made up of catalyst bodies, where the first catalyst zone is arranged at the gas inlet end and the second catalyst zone is arranged downstream of the first catalyst zone in the gas flow direction and the length of the first catalyst zone in the gas flow direction is less than the length of the second catalyst zone in the gas flow direction, characterized in that the first catalyst zone has a higher gap content compared to the second catalyst zone.