Processes for producing high biogenic concentration Fischer-Tropsch liquids derived from municipal solid wastes (MSW) feedstocks

• US 10,344,233 B2
• Filed: 10/23/2017
• Issued: 07/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thermochem Recovery International, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Fulcrum Bioenergy, Inc.
• Inventors: Lucas, Stephen H., Tiverios, Peter G., Rich, Lewis L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Parsa, Jafar F
• Application Number:
  US15/791,045
• Publication Number:
  US 20180057762A1
• Time in Patent Office: 624 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 19/0006 Controlling or regulating processes controlling or regulating in general G05
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 2208/00115 with heat exchange elements inside the bed of solid particles
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 8/00 Chemical or physical processes in general, conducted in the presence of fluids and solid particles; Apparatus for such processes
• CPC Class Codes: C07C 29/1518 one step being the formation of initial mixture of carbon oxides and hydrogen for synthesis
• CPC Class Codes: C07C 31/04 Methanol
• CPC Class Codes: C07C 31/08 Ethanol
• CPC Class Codes: C10G 2/32 with the use of catalysts
• CPC Class Codes: C10G 2/34 Apparatus, reactors
• CPC Class Codes: C10G 47/00 Cracking of hydrocarbon oils, in the presence of hydrogen or hydrogen- generating compounds, to obtain lower boiling fractions C10G15/00 takes precedence; destructive hydrogenation of non-melting solid carbonaceous or similar materials C10G1/06
• CPC Class Codes: C10J 2300/0903 Feed preparation
• CPC Class Codes: C10J 2300/0906 Physical processes, e.g. shredding, comminuting, chopping, sorting
• CPC Class Codes: C10J 2300/0946 Waste, e.g. MSW, tires, glass, tar sand, peat, paper, lignite, oil shale
• CPC Class Codes: C10J 2300/0959 Oxygen
• CPC Class Codes: C10J 2300/0976 as steam
• CPC Class Codes: C10J 2300/1628 Ash post-treatment
• CPC Class Codes: C10J 2300/1634 Ash vitrification
• CPC Class Codes: C10J 2300/1643 Conversion of synthesis gas to energy
• CPC Class Codes: C10J 2300/1659 to liquid hydrocarbons Fischer-Tropsch process C10G2/00
• CPC Class Codes: C10J 2300/1665 to alcohols, e.g. methanol or ethanol preparation of alcohols in general C07C29/00
• CPC Class Codes: C10J 2300/1671 with the production of electricity
• CPC Class Codes: C10J 2300/1675 : making use of a steam turbine
• CPC Class Codes: C10J 2300/1815 : for carbon dioxide
• CPC Class Codes: C10J 2300/1853 : Steam reforming, i.e. injection of steam only
• CPC Class Codes: C10J 3/26 : downwardly
• CPC Class Codes: C10J 3/466 : Entrained flow processes
• CPC Class Codes: C10J 3/485 : Entrained flow gasifiers
• CPC Class Codes: C10J 3/721 : Multistage gasification, e.g. plural parallel or serial gasification stages
• CPC Class Codes: C10J 3/82 : Gas withdrawal means
• CPC Class Codes: C10K 1/004 : Sulfur containing contaminants, e.g. hydrogen sulfide
• CPC Class Codes: C10K 1/005 : Carbon dioxide
• CPC Class Codes: C10K 1/101 : with water only
• CPC Class Codes: C10K 1/16 : with non-aqueous liquids
• CPC Class Codes: C10K 3/001 : by thermal treatment
• CPC Class Codes: C10K 3/04 : reducing the carbon monoxide content , e.g. water-gas shift [WGS]
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 1/04 : essentially based on blends of hydrocarbons
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 1/08 : for compression ignition
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 2200/0469 : Renewables or materials of biological origin
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 2200/0492 : Fischer-Tropsch products
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 2270/023 : for gasoline engines
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 2270/026 : for diesel engines, e.g. automobiles, stationary, marine
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 2270/04 : for turbines, planes, power generation
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 2290/04 : Gasification
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 2290/10 : Recycling of a stream within the process or apparatus to reuse elsewhere therein
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 2290/42 : Fischer-Tropsch steps
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 2290/54 : Specific separation steps for separating fractions, components or impurities during preparation or upgrading of a fuel
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 2290/543 : Distillation, fractionation or rectification for separating fractions, components or impurities during preparation or upgrading of a fuel
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 20/16 : Combined cycle power plant [CCPP], or combined cycle gas turbine [CCGT]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 50/10 : Biofuels, e.g. bio-diesel
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 50/30 : Fuel from waste, e.g. synthetic alcohol or diesel
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 20/129 : Energy recovery, e.g. by cogeneration, H2recovery or pressure recovery turbines
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 20/133 : Renewable energy sources, e.g. sunlight
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 20/50 : Improvements relating to the production of bulk chemicals
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 30/00 : Technologies relating to oil refining and petrochemical industry
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 30/20 : using bio-feedstock

Abstract

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.

Claims

1. A transportation fuel or fuel additive consisting essentially of:

a fuel or fuel additive comprised of carbon derived solely from processed municipal solid wastes (MSW) feedstock, the processed MSW feedstock comprised substantially of biogenic carbon materials and wherein the derived fuel or fuel additive has the same concentration of biogenic carbon as the processed MSW feedstock;

the fuel or fuel additive derived from a process comprising the steps of;

a) in a feedstock processing step, removing non-biogenic derived carbon materials and non-carbonaceous materials from the municipal solid waste that contain materials that are produced from plant derived carbon (biogenic) as well as non-biogenic derived carbon (fossil based) materials, to produce a processed MSW feedstock that contains a greater concentration of biogenic carbon than concentration of non-biogenic carbons; and

b) converting the processed MSW feedstock into Fischer-Tropsch liquids in a bio-refinery while maintaining the concentration of biogenic carbon from the processed MSW feedstock; and

c) upgrading the Fischer-Tropsch liquids into the fuel or fuel additive while maintaining the concentration of biogenic carbon from the processed MSW feedstock.

2. The transportation fuel or additive derived by the process according to claim 1 wherein the feedstock processing step includes at least two processing steps.

3. The transportation fuel or additive derived by the process according to claim 1 wherein, in the feedstock processing step, more than about 10% of the non-biogenic derived carbon materials are purposefully removed from the municipal solid waste.

4. The transportation fuel or additive derived by the process according to claim 1 wherein, in the feedstock processing step, up to about 80% of the non-biogenic derived carbon materials are removed from the municipal solid waste.

5. The transportation fuel or additive derived by the process according to claim 1 wherein in the feedstock processing step, between about 10% and about 80% of the non-biogenic derived carbon materials are removed from the municipal solid wastes.

6. The transportation fuel or additive derived by the process according to claim 1 wherein the concentration of biogenic carbon in the Fischer-Tropsch liquids includes up to about 60% biogenic carbon.

7. The transportation fuel or additive derived by the process according to claim 1 wherein the concentration of biogenic carbon in the Fischer-Tropsch liquids includes up to about 80% biogenic carbon.

8. The transportation fuel or additive derived by the process according to claim 1 wherein the concentration of biogenic carbon in the Fischer-Tropsch liquids is up to 90%.

9. The transportation fuel or additive derived by the process according to claim 1 wherein the concentration of non-biogenic carbon in the Fischer-Tropsch liquids is up to 10%.

10. The transportation fuel or additive derived by the process according to claim 1 wherein the step of converting the processed feedstock into Fischer-Tropsch liquids in the bio-refinery, further comprises:

converting the biogenic carbon into biogenic syngas in a gasification process.

11. The transportation fuel or additive derived by the process according to claim 1, wherein the fuel additive is added to fossil based fuels.

12. The transportation fuel or additive derived by the process according to claim 1, wherein the fuel additive is added to jet fuel.

13. The transportation fuel or additive derived by the process according to claim 1, wherein the fuel additive is added to the jet fuel at a percentage of up to 50%.

14. The transportation fuel or additive derived by the process according to claim 1, wherein the fuel additive is added to diesel fuel.

15. A transportation fuel or fuel additive consisting essentially of:

a fuel or fuel additive comprised of carbon derived solely from processed municipal solid wastes (MSW) feedstock, the processed MSW feedstock comprised substantially of biogenic carbon materials and the derived fuel or fuel additive has the same concentration of biogenic carbon as the processed MSW feedstock;

the fuel or fuel additive derived from a process comprising the steps of;

a) in a feedstock processing step, removing non-biogenic derived carbon materials and non-carbonaceous materials from municipal solid wastes that contain materials that are produced from plant derived carbon (biogenic) as well as non-biogenic derived carbon (fossil based) materials, to produce a processed MSW feedstock that contains a greater concentration of biogenic carbon than concentration of non-biogenic carbons;

b) in a power generation process, converting some or all of the biogenic carbon content material into biogenic power with reduced lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions and higher renewable energy credits; and

c) converting the processed MSW feedstock into Fischer-Tropsch liquids in a bio-refinery while maintaining the concentration of biogenic carbon from the processed MSW feedstock; and

d) upgrading the Fischer-Tropsch liquids to produce transportation fuel or fuel additive with reduced life cycle greenhouse gas emissions and high renewable energy credits.

16. The transportation fuel of claim 15 wherein the biogenic content of the fuel classifies the transportation fuel as a cellulosic biofuel which generates a renewable identification number (RIN) for said transportation fuel.

17. The transportation fuel of claim 16 wherein the RIN is a form of compliance credits under a renewable fuel standard (RFS) program.

18. The transportation fuel of claim 17 wherein the transportation fuel is blended into fossil derived fuels to establish a RIN credit.

19. Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) liquids derived from biogenic carbon materials, the Fisher-Tropsch liquids derived from a process comprising the steps of:

a) in a feedstock processing step, removing non-biogenic derived carbon materials and non-carbonaceous materials from municipal solid waste (MSW) that contain materials that are produced from plant derived carbon (biogenic) as well as non-biogenic derived carbon (fossil based) materials, to produce a processed MSW feedstock that contains a greater concentration of biogenic carbon than concentration of non-biogenic carbons from the municipal solid waste; and

b) converting the processed MSW feedstock into Fischer-Tropsch liquids in a bio-refinery while maintaining the concentration of biogenic carbon from the processed MSW feedstock.

20. The Fisher-Tropsch liquids derived by the process according to claim 19 wherein the feedstock processing step includes at least two processing steps.

21. The Fisher-Tropsch liquids derived by the process according to claim 19 wherein, in the feedstock processing step, more than about 10% of the non-biogenic derived carbon materials are purposefully removed from the municipal solid wastes.

22. The Fisher-Tropsch liquids derived by the process according to claim 19 wherein, in the feedstock processing step, up to about 80% of the non-biogenic derived carbon materials are removed from the municipal solid wastes.

23. The Fisher-Tropsch liquids derived by the process according to claim 19 wherein in the feedstock processing step, between about 10% and about 90% of the non-biogenic derived carbon materials are removed from the municipal solid wastes.

24. The Fisher-Tropsch liquids derived by the process according to claim 19 wherein the concentration of biogenic carbon in the Fisher-Tropsch liquids includes up to about 60% biogenic carbon.

25. The Fisher-Tropsch liquids derived by the process according to claim 19 wherein the concentration of biogenic carbon in the Fisher-Tropsch liquids includes up to about 80% biogenic carbon.

26. The Fischer-Tropsch liquids derived by the process according to claim 19 wherein the concentration of biogenic carbon in the Fischer-Tropsch liquids is up to 90%.

27. The Fischer-Tropsch liquids derived by the process according to claim 19 wherein the concentration of non-biogenic carbon in the Fischer-Tropsch liquids is up to 10%.