Method and apparatus for producing methane from carbonaceous material
First Claim
1. A method for producing methane from a carbonaceous material comprising:
- conveying said carbonaceous material entrained in an inert carrier fluid into a reactor;
exposing said carbonaceous material in said reactor to a swirling stream of a hydrogen gas to react said carbonaceous material with said hydrogen gas in a first reaction zone and form an exit gas that includes said methane;
contacting said exit gas with hydrogen gas in a second reaction zone having a lower reaction rate than said first reaction zone to increase an amount of said methane in said exit gas; and
extracting said exit gas from said reactor.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for producing methane (69) from a carbonaceous (22) material includes conveying pulverized carbonaceous material (28) entrained in an inert carrier fluid, such as carbon dioxide (36), into a reactor (34). The reactor (34) includes a vortex region (72) for receiving hydrogen gas (38) and imparting a swirling motion to the hydrogen gas (38). The pulverized carbonaceous material (28) is exposed to the swirling stream of hydrogen gas (38) in a first reaction zone (114) within the reactor (34) to form an exit gas (40) that includes methane (69). Remaining unreacted carbonaceous material (28) is further exposed to the hydrogen gas (38) in a second, low velocity, reaction zone (120). The methane rich exit gas (40) is subsequently extracted from the reactor (34) for further processing.
-
Citations
36 Claims
-
1. A method for producing methane from a carbonaceous material comprising:
-
conveying said carbonaceous material entrained in an inert carrier fluid into a reactor; exposing said carbonaceous material in said reactor to a swirling stream of a hydrogen gas to react said carbonaceous material with said hydrogen gas in a first reaction zone and form an exit gas that includes said methane; contacting said exit gas with hydrogen gas in a second reaction zone having a lower reaction rate than said first reaction zone to increase an amount of said methane in said exit gas; and extracting said exit gas from said reactor. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
-
-
19. A system for producing methane from a carbonaceous material comprising:
-
a pulverizer for forming particulates of said carbonaceous material; a screw conveyor coupled to said pulverizer, wherein said screw conveyor is configured to convey said particulates; and a reactor in communication with said screw conveyor, said reactor including; a fuel feed element having a first inlet for receiving said particulates of said carbonaceous material entrained in an inert carrier fluid from said conveyor, and said fuel feed element having a first outlet; a vortex region having a second inlet for receiving a hydrogen gas and having a second outlet, said vortex region imparting a swirling motion to said hydrogen gas to form a swirling stream of said hydrogen gas; a reaction tube in fluid communication with each of said first and second outlets for exposing said carbonaceous material to said swirling stream of said hydrogen gas to react said carbonaceous material with said hydrogen gas and form an exit gas that includes said methane; and a reactor outlet in fluid communication with said reaction tube for extracting said exit gas from said reactor.
-
-
30. A method for producing methane from a carbonaceous material comprising:
-
delivering a hydrogen gas to a vortex region of a reactor to impart a swirling motion to said hydrogen gas and form a swirling stream of said hydrogen gas; passing said swirling stream of said hydrogen gas from said vortex region to a reaction zone of said reactor; conveying said carbonaceous material entrained in an inert carrier fluid into said reaction zone; in the absence of added water, exposing said carbonaceous material in said reaction zone to said swirling stream of a hydrogen gas to react said carbonaceous material with said hydrogen gas and form an exit gas that includes said methane; and contacting said exit gas with hydrogen gas to react a remaining portion of said carbonaceous material in said exit gas with hydrogen gas to increase an amount of said methane in said exit gas; and extracting said exit gas from said reactor. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
-
Specification