Conversion of carbonaceous materials to synthetic natural gas by pyrolysis, reforming, and methanation

Abstract

The production of synthetic natural gas from a carbonaceous material, preferably a biomass material, such as wood. The carbonaceous material is first pyrolyzed, then subjected to steam reforming to produce a syngas, which is then passed to several clean-up steps then to a methanation zone to produce synthetic natural gas.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This is based on Provisional Application 60 / 832803 filed Jul. 24, 2006.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to the production of synthetic natural gas from a carbonaceous material, preferably a biomass material, such as wood. The carbonaceous material is first pyrolyzed, then subjected to steam reforming to produce a syngas, which is then passed to several clean-up steps then to a methanation zone to produce synthetic natural gas.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]The world's energy supplies, particularly liquid and gaseous fuel from fossil fuels, are being depleted faster than they are replaced. Consequently, the development of techniques for producing energy are urgently needed for avoiding the depletion of limited fossil fuel resources as well as for alleviating the global warming problem. Among various types of natural energy, biomass energy is regarded as one of the most promising natural energy from the viewpoint ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0013]f) passing at least a portion of the liquid fraction and an effective amount of superheated steam to a reforming zone operated at a temperature of about 850° C. to about 1200° C. and a pressure form about 3 psig to about 500 psig wherein said liquid fraction is reformed to produce a synthetic gaseous product comprised of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and methan

Problems solved by technology

The world's energy supplies, particularly liquid and gaseous fuel from fossil fuels, are being depleted faster than they are replaced.

Direct combustion of woody biomass suffers from a limited amount of resource and low efficiency, and, further, only electric power can effectively be supplied from the direct combustion of woody biomass.

At the present time, however, such techniques are not in a practical stage for technical as well as economical reasons.

Also, the use of biomass as the feedstock will not generally result in a net CO2 emission as long as the source material can be replanted to replace those used as fuel.

Various problems exist in the art for pyrolyzing or gasifying carbonaceous materials, such as cellulosic materials.

None of these lends themselves well to a high volume, precisely controlled, continuous process wherein the biomass fuel is efficiently converted to the target gas for supply to and likely, additional energy or waste in the process.

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