Method and system for generating electrical power from hydrogen produced from waste material

Abstract

A method and system for generating electrical power for supply to a utility scale electrical grid managed by a central management authority is disclosed. The method and system comprise processing waste material and an environmental air supply to generate a hydrogen supply and generating electrical power based on the hydrogen supply, wherein the electrical power is generated to have predetermined supply characteristics configured to meet stability requirements of the utility scale electrical grid.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR GENERATING ELECTRICAL POWER FROM HYDROGEN PRODUCED FROM WASTE MATERIALPRIORITY DOCUMENTS

[0001] The present application claims priority from Australian Provisional Patent Application No. 2023900657 titled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR GENERATING ELECTRICAL POWER FROM HYDROGEN PRODUCED FROM WASTE MATERIAL” and filed on 10 March 2023, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present disclosure relates to the generation of electrical power from hydrogen produced from waste material such as biomass or refuse derived fuels. In a particular form, the present disclosure relates to generation of electrical power configured to meet the stability requirements of a utility scale electrical network.BACKGROUND

[0003] Stability of utility scale electrical grids is an ongoing problem especially with the increasing penetration of intermittent energy sources such as wind and solar which has been observed over the last twenty years. Often it is necessary that electrical power is provided on very short timescales to the electrical grid where the supplied electrical power is required to have predetermined supply characteristics that meet the short term stability requirements of the electrical grid in order to ensure reliable operation. One example of a utility scale electrical grid is the national electricity grid that extends throughout Eastern Australia and which is known as the National Electricity Market (NEM). The NEM includes South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Queensland and is managed and operated by a central management authority referred to in this case as the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).

[0004] In this example, the AEMO operates to match the demand and stability requirements of the electrical grid taking by sending “dispatch notices” to individual power plant operators that form part of the NEM following a bidding process by the individual power plants and taking into account that electrical power may potentially be generated in various locations throughout the NEM, the associated network transmission constraints and the inertia needs of the grid. These dispatch notices, which may be sent both on 5-minute dispatch intervals and in real time, direct an individual power plant generator to supply the notified electrical services to the electrical grid in accordance with the requirements set out in the dispatch notice. As a consequence, the operational stability of the electrical grid will be impacted bythe ability of individual power plants as a collective to match the electrical power and inertia needs of the grid.

[0005] Real electrical power in an electrical grid such as the NEM is measured in Megawatts (MW) and is both the measure of power paid for by most consumers and the dominant trading product. There are also various classes of electrical grid stability support products referred to as frequency control ancillary services (FCAS) which function to maintain frequency stability of the electrical grid. In the example of the NEM operating in Australia, the frequency of the electrical grid is maintained at 50 Hz. Similar to real electrical power, FCAS are traded in an open and transparent market by those electrical generators that can provide these products.

[0006] Some FCAS products are divided into “Raise” and “Lower” products, representing an ability of a power generator to reliably increase or decrease electrical power output upon demand in a certain response time ranging from more or less instantaneously to a response time in the order of minutes. Power plants also have a known “ramp rate” that characterises the rate of change of the various real power and FCAS capabilities that the power plant can deliver which informs the central management authority of the capabilities of the plant should a need arise for a change in power settings to maintain the stability of the electricity grid.

[0007] One generation method of producing both real electrical power and FCAS is through the use of peaker power plants. These plants are typically liquid or gaseous fossil fuel based and can generally supply electrical power having the required supply characteristics to meet both power and stability requirements of the electrical grid. While these types of peaker power plants are generally effective to smooth out the operating characteristics of the electrical grid they have the significant disadvantage of producing greenhouse gas emissions.

[0008] These peaker plants are also typically limited by responsiveness to changes in electrical grid requirements having low ramp rates to transition between operating states. As an example, the majority of peaker plants do not provide FCAS for response times less than 6 or 60 seconds and further provide little in the way of electrical power that needs to be delivered within a 5 minute response time. Additionally, such plants also do not provide any systems inertia to the electrical grid unless they are producing real power at the connection point.

[0009] Against this background it would be advantageous to have electrical power generating methods and systems that have the capability of reliably meeting the real power and stability requirements of an electrical grid but have reduced greenhouse gas emissions when compared to fossil fuel based methods of electrical power generation. It would also be advantageous to be able to utilize waste material as a potential fuel source that would otherwise eventually produce greenhouse gas emissions.SUMMARY

[0010] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method for generating electrical power for supply to a utility scale electrical grid managed by a central management authority, comprising: processing waste material and an environmental air supply to generate a hydrogen supply; and generating electrical power based on the hydrogen supply, wherein the electrical power is generated to have predetermined supply characteristics configured to meet stability requirements of the utility scale electrical grid.

[0011] In another form, processing a waste material and an environmental air supply to generate a hydrogen supply comprises: separating the environmental air supply to produce an oxygen enriched supply; gasifying the waste material to produce a synthetic gas supply, wherein the gasifying process is based on the oxygen enriched supply; and separating the synthetic gas supply to produce the hydrogen supply.

[0012] In another form, processing waste material and an environmental air supply to generate a hydrogen supply further comprises generating a steam supply.

[0013] In another form, gasifying the waste material to produce the synthetic gas supply is also based on the steam supply.

[0014] In another form, the gasifying occurs at a temperature in the range 550°C to 850°C and at approximately atmospheric pressure.

[0015] In another form, generating a steam supply is based on recovering heat from separating the synthetic gas supply to produce the hydrogen supply.

[0016] In another form, processing the waste material includes initially drying the waste material to a predetermined moisture content.

[0017] In another form, the energy for initially drying the waste material is produced from processing the waste material.

[0018] In another form, a waste material throughput rate of the processing waste material step is capable of ranging between a lower limit percentage to a full percentage (ie, 100%) of a nominal waste material throughput rate over an adjustment period.

[0019] In another form, the lower limit percentage is 30% and the adjustment period is approximately 30 minutes.

[0020] In another form, processing waste material and an environmental air supply to generate a hydrogen supply further comprises generating a hydrogen product.

[0021] In another form, generating a hydrogen product comprises : separating the environmental air supply to produce a nitrogen supply in addition to the oxygen enriched supply; and reacting the nitrogen supply with a component of the generated hydrogen supply to generate a hydrogen product in the form of an ammonia supply.

[0022] In another form, generating a hydrogen product comprises: separating the synthetic gas supply to produce a carbon dioxide supply in addition to the hydrogen supply; and reacting the ammonia supply with the carbon dioxide supply to generate a hydrogen product in the form of urea.

[0023] In another form, processing waste material and an environmental air supply to generate a hydrogen supply further comprises producing biochar.

[0024] In another form, the method further comprises storing hydrogen from the hydrogen supply.

[0025] In another form, generating electrical power based on the hydrogen supply comprises utilising one or more of: a gas turbine generator; or a hydrogen based fuel cell.

[0026] In another form, the method further comprises generating supplementary electrical power from the steam supply by one or more steam turbine generators.

[0027] In another form, the supplementary electrical power is employed in separating the environmental air supply to produce an oxygen enriched supply.

[0028] In another form, the stability requirements of the utility scale electrical grid comprise supplying electrical power to match a forecast electrical grid demand determined by the central management authority.

[0029] In another form, the stability requirements of the utility scale electrical grid comprise controlling the frequency to maintain an electrical grid frequency.

[0030] In another form, the predetermined supply characteristics comprise varying a supplied electrical power by a predetermined amount within a predetermined response time on direction from the central management authority to maintain the electrical grid frequency.

[0031] In another form, the predetermined supply characteristics comprise varying a supplied inertial contribution to an electrical grid inertia on direction from the central management authority.

[0032] In another form, the predetermined supply characteristics comprise the capability to independently start and supply electrical power to the electrical grid on direction from the central management authority.

[0033] In a second aspect, the present disclosure provides a system for generating electrical power for supply to a utility scale electrical grid managed by a central management authority, comprising: a hydrogen production module for processing waste material to generate a hydrogen supply; and an electrical power module for generating electrical power based on the hydrogen supply, wherein the electrical power is generated to have predetermined supply characteristics configured to meet stability requirements of the utility scale electrical grid.

[0034] In another form, the hydrogen production module comprises: a first gas separator for separating the environmental air supply to produce an oxygen enriched supply; a gasifier for gasifying the waste material to produce a synthetic gas supply, wherein the gasifying process is based on the oxygen enriched supply; and a second gas separator for separating the synthetic gas supply to produce the hydrogen supply.

[0035] In another form, the hydrogen production module is further configured for generating a steam supply.

[0036] In another form, the gasifier producing the synthetic gas supply is also based on the steam supply.

[0037] In another form, the gasifier operates at a temperature in the range 550°C to 850°C and at approximately atmospheric pressure.

[0038] In another form, generating a steam supply is based on recovering heat from the process of separating the synthetic gas supply to produce the hydrogen supply.

[0039] In another form, the hydrogen production module further comprises a waste material drying module for initially drying the waste material to a predetermined moisture content.

[0040] In another form, the waste material drying module is operable based on energy produced from processing the waste material.

[0041] In another form, a waste material throughput rate of the hydrogen production module is capable of ranging between a lower limit percentage to a full percentage (ie, 100%) of a nominal waste material throughput rate over an adjustment period.

[0042] In another form, the lower limit percentage is 30% and the adjustment period is approximately 30 minutes.

[0043] In another form, the hydrogen production module is further configured to generate a hydrogen product.

[0044] In another form, the hydrogen production module configured for generating a hydrogen product comprises: the first gas separator being configured to produce a nitrogen supply in addition to the oxygen enriched supply; and an ammonia generator for reacting the nitrogen supply with a component of the generated hydrogen supply to generate a hydrogen product in the form of an ammonia supply.

[0045] In another form, the hydrogen production module configured for generating a hydrogen product comprises: the second gas separator being configured to produce a carbon dioxide supply in addition to the hydrogen supply; and a urea generator for reacting the ammonia supply with the carbon dioxide supply to generate a hydrogen product in the form of urea.

[0046] In another form, the hydrogen production module is further configured for producing biochar.

[0047] In another form, the system further comprises a storage module for storing hydrogen from the hydrogen supply.

[0048] In another form, the electrical power module comprises one or more of: a gas turbine generator; or a hydrogen based fuel cell.

[0049] In another form, the electrical power module comprises a steam based electrical power module comprising one or more a steam turbine generators for generating supplementary electrical power from the steam supply.

[0050] In another form, the supplementary electrical power is employed in separating the environmental air supply to produce an oxygen enriched supply.

[0051] In another form, the stability requirements of the utility scale electrical grid comprise supplying electrical power to match a forecast electrical grid demand determined by the central management authority.

[0052] In another form, the stability requirements of the utility scale electrical grid comprise controlling the frequency to maintain an electrical grid frequency.

[0053] In another form, the predetermined supply characteristics comprise varying a supplied electrical power by a predetermined amount within a predetermined response time on direction from the central management authority to maintain the electrical grid frequency.

[0054] In another form, the predetermined supply characteristics comprise varying a supplied inertial contribution to an electrical grid inertia on direction from the central management authority.

[0055] In another form, the predetermined supply characteristics comprise the capability to independently start and supply electrical power to the electrical grid on direction from the central management authority.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0056] Embodiments of the present disclosure will be discussed with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

[0057] FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method for generating electrical power in accordance with an illustrative embodiment;

[0058] FIG. 2 is a system overview diagram of a system for generating electrical power in accordance with an illustrative embodiment which in one example may be employed to implement the method illustrated in FIG. 1;

[0059] FIG. 3 is a system overview diagram of a hydrogen production module in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0060] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method for processing a waste material and an environmental air supply to generate a hydrogen supply in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0061] FIG. 5 is a system overview diagram of a hydrogen production module in accordance with another illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure which in one example may be employed to implement the method illustrated in FIG. 4;

[0062] FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method for processing a waste material and an environmental air supply to generate a hydrogen supply in accordance with another illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0063] FIG. 7 is a system overview diagram of a hydrogen production module in accordance with another illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure which in one example may be employed to implement the method illustrated in FIG. 6;

[0064] FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method for processing a waste material and an environmental air supply to generate a hydrogen supply and a hydrogen product in accordance with another illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0065] FIG. 9 is a system overview diagram of a hydrogen and hydrogen product production module in accordance with another illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure which in one example may be employed to implement the method illustrated in FIG. 8;

[0066] FIG. 10 is a system overview diagram of an electrical power module in accordance with an illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0067] FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a method for generating electrical power and supplementary electrical power in accordance with an illustrative embodiment;

[0068] FIG. 12 is a system overview diagram of a system for generating electrical power and supplementary electrical power which in one embodiment may be employed to implement the method illustrated in Figure 11; and

[0069] FIG. 13 is a system overview diagram of an analysis module for monitoring outputs of systems for generating electrical power in accordance with an illustrative embodiment.

[0070] In the following description, like reference characters designate like or corresponding parts throughout the figures.DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

[0071] Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a flowchart of a method 100 for generating electrical power for supply to a utility scale electrical grid managed by a central management authority according to an illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure where the electrical power is generated based on a hydrogen supply from processing waste material and an environmental air supply, and the electrical power is configured to have predetermined supply characteristics to meet the stability requirements of the electrical grid. FIG. 2 shows a system overview diagram of a system 200 for generating electrical power that in one example is operable to implement method 100 and comprises a hydrogen production module 210 that processes waste material and an environmental air supply to produce a hydrogen supply, and an electrical power module 220 that operates to generate electrical power having predetermined supply characteristics that are configured to meet stability requirements of the utility scale electrical grid 230 as will be described below.

[0072] At block 100 of FIG.l, waste material and an environmental air supply is processed to generate a hydrogen supply. Throughout this specification the term waste material is taken to mean any waste organic material and includes, but is not limited to, wood, agricultural residues, mining residue, animal waste including animal processing waste, municipal waste, industrial waste, commercial waste or partially processed refuse derived fuel (RDF).

[0073] Referring now to FIG. 3, there is shown an example hydrogen production module 300 according to an illustrative embodiment that may be implemented as the hydrogen production module 210 illustrated in FIG. 2.

[0074] In this example, hydrogen production module 300 comprises a gasifier 310 and gas separator 320. Gasifier 310 processes the waste material and an environmental air supply to form synthetic gas as an output. Gas separator 320 then separates the syngas to produce the hydrogen supply. In one example, gas separator 320 is based on pressure swing adsorption (PSA).

[0075] In one example of the gasification process undertaken by gasifier 320, the waste material is gasified in a reactor arrangement comprising a single fluidised bed of a mineral substance in a refractory lined gasifier where the mineral bed supports the reaction process. Environmental air is supplied at a rate less than that required for full combustion of the material and is introduced to the fluidised bed at a high temperature together with the waste material. This results in both combustion and gasification of some proportion of the waste material where limited environmental air supply functions as the oxidation medium.

[0076] Before start-up of the single fluidised bed gasifier, the combustion chamber bed material is provisioned and the bed upon which reactions occur is replenished or replaced periodically as it captures un-combusted material present in the waste material. This bed degradation process is referred to as bed slagging and may reduce the effectiveness of the bed material in supporting the syngas creation process and as such the bed must be maintained at a reasonable state of purity. Bed replenishment and refractory liner issues can lead to a lower than ideal mean time between failures (MTBF) and long mean time to repair (MTTR) in this type of gasifier as the gasifier may require being shut down for bed cleaning and replacement.

[0077] Due to the very high temperature of operation of the single fluidised bed gasifier, this type of gasifier typically incorporates a heat resistant liner constructed of refractory materials. These refractory materials can be prone to damage where there are rapid temperature changes and generally only allow for a low permitted ramp rate for either increasing or decreasing the throughput of waste material processing as any change in throughput generally leads to an associated operating temperature change for the gasifier. As the gasification process is effectively combustion driven, overall temperature control of the gasification process can be imprecise, leading to variability in output gas composition that reflects the changes in reaction conditions in the gasifier. As would be appreciated, due to the high temperature of the single fluidised bed gasification process, ash is created during gasification which will generally require treatment as a potentially hazardous waste product.

[0078] While the above gasification process is suitable for the production of hydrogen and may be adopted in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, significant quantities of inert gases such as nitrogen, argon etc, are typically produced by this process as well as hydrogen.

[0079] In various examples, the reactor arrangement comprising a single fluidised bed may be configured to produce a percentage hydrogen volume in the produced synthetic gas in the following ranges including, but not limited to: less than 10%, 10% - 12%, 12% - 14%, 14% - 16%, 16% - 18%, 18% - 20%, or greater than 20%.

[0080] In another example of the gasification process undertaken by gasifier 310, the waste material is gasified in a reactor arrangement comprising a dual fluidised bed refractory lined gasifier with circulating beds of a mineral substance which supports the reaction process. Environmental air introduced to the primary bed combusts some of the waste material, while waste material introduced to the secondary bed is pyrolyzed and gasified in this secondary bed, this process being based entirely on flue gasses resulting from the primary bed and with limited environmental air added to the flue gasses as the oxidation medium.

[0081] Similar to the single bed gasifier, the bed material in both beds is provisioned and the bed upon which reactions occur is replenished or replaced periodically as it captures un-combusted material present in the waste material. Again, this process may reduce the effectiveness of the bed material in supporting the syngas creation process and therefore the bed should be maintained at a reasonable state of purity. As with the single bed gasifier, due to the very high temperature of operation of this style of gasifier, the reactor arrangement incorporates a heat resistant liner constructed of refractory materials which as discussed previously may be prone to damage upon rapid temperature changes as a result leading to a low permitted ramp rate for either increasing or decreasing throughput of waste material being processed as the change in throughput leads to an associated temperature change. As with the single fluidised bed based gasifier, due to the high temperature of the gasification process, ash is created which is treated as a potential hazardous waste product.

[0082] As with the single fluidised bed based gasifier, the above gasification process is suitable for the production of hydrogen and may be adopted in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, however, inert gases such as nitrogen, argon etc are also produced in significant quantities by this process as well as hydrogen.

[0083] In various examples, the reactor arrangement comprising a dual fluidised bed may be configured to produce a percentage hydrogen volume in the produced synthetic gas in the following ranges including, but not limited to: less than 20%, 20% - 22%, 22% - 24%, 24% - 26%, 26% - 28%, 28% - 30%, or greater than 30%.

[0084] While the dual bed configmation has the advantage of increasing the percentage of useful gases in the synthetic gas stream the efficiency of the gasification process can be reduced, due to a percentage of the energy value (eg, 15%) being lost in flue gasses from the first bed. In the present disclosure directed to the production of hydrogen, while the percentage hydrogen produced is typically higher in the dual bed design, the total amount of hydrogen produced per ton of waste material being produced is generally reduced.

[0085] Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown a flowchart of a method 400 for processing a waste material and an environmental air supply to generate a hydrogen supply according to an illustrative embodiment corresponding in one example to block 110 of FIG. 1. FIG. 5 shows a system overview diagram of a hydrogen production module 500 that in one example is operable to implement method 400 for generating hydrogen as set out in FIG. 4.

[0086] In this example, hydrogen production module 500 comprises a gas separator 530 that functions to separate input environmental air to produce an oxygen enriched supply in accordance with block 410 of FIG. 4. At block 420, the waste material is gasified to produce a synthetic gas supply where this gasifyingprocess is based on an oxygen enriched supply generated at block 410. In one example, the oxygen enriched supply is at greater than 80% purity oxygen. In another example, the oxygen enriched supply is at greater than 90% purity oxygen. In yet another example, the oxygen enriched supply is at greater than 95% purity oxygen. In various other examples, the percentage purity of oxygen may be selected from the following ranges, including, but not limited to: 80% - 82.5%, 82.5% - 85%, 85% - 87.5%, 87.5% - 90%, 90% - 92.5%, 92.5% - 95%, 95% - 97.5%, or greater than 97.5%.

[0087] As shown in FIG. 5, the oxygen enriched supply forms an input to gasifier 510 which processes the waste material to form synthetic gas as an output. Gas separator 520 then separates the syngas to produce the hydrogen supply in accordance with block 430 of FIG. 4. In one example, one or both of gas separators 520, 530 are based on pressure swing adsorption (PSA).

[0088] In one embodiment, gasifier 510 is based on a reactor arrangement comprising a single fluidised bed of a mineral substance in a refractory lined gasifier where the mineral bed supports the reaction process. In this example, instead of the gasification being based on environmental air as has been described above, the gasifying of the waste material is based on the oxygen enriched supply generated by gas separator 530. By comparison with a gasification process based on an environmental air supply, noting that bulk nitrogen makes up approximately 80% of air by volume, the resulting synthetic gas has a higher percentage of hydrogen.

[0089] In various examples, the reactor arrangement comprising a single fluidised bed and an oxygen enriched supply may be configmed to produce a percentage hydrogen volume in the produced synthetic gas in the following ranges including, but not limited to: less than 15%, 15% - 20%, 20% - 25%, 25% - 30%, 30% - 35%, or greater than 30%.

[0090] In another embodiment, gasifier 510 is based on a reactor arrangement comprising a dual bed refractory lined gasifier such as described above except that the gasification is based on an oxygen enriched supply. In such a dual bed design embodiment the percentage of useful gases in the syngas stream is increased compared to a single bed, as the single bed produces carbon dioxide, while in the dual bed design part of the carbon dioxide is vented to the flue gas stream. This also reduces the efficiency of the process, as approximately 15% of the energy value is lost in flue gasses from the first bed.

[0091] In various examples, the reactor arrangement comprising a dual fluidised bed and an oxygen enriched supply may be configmed to produce a percentage hydrogen volume in the produced synthetic gas in the following ranges including, but not limited to: less than 20%, 20% - 25%, 25% - 30%, 30% - 35%, or greater than 30%.

[0092] In yet another embodiment, gasifier 510 is based on a reactor arrangement comprising a gas lofted bed gasifier. The gas lofted bed gasifier comprises a fully enclosed reaction vessel, formed in one embodiment of high temperature rated stainless steel that utilises recirculation of the reactant gasses and product gasses to maintain the solids in a rotating gas stream to entrain the waste material within a stream of gases in the gasification process. In this example, no mineral bed is required and the gasification process utilises controllable pre-heaters, heat exchange systems and cooling air blowers supporting the heat exchanger in the re-cycled synthetic gas generation loop. As a result, the gasification process temperature for a gas lofted bed gasifier may be maintained in a range between 550°C to 850°C. This relatively low process temperature means that stainless steel vessels without any specialised refractory liner arrangement may be used for the gasification process. Use of these standard vessels results in a reduced maintenance load reflected in longer MTBF and MTTR when compared to the single fluidised bed or dual fluidised bed gasification processes.

[0093] A gas lofted bed gasifier may also be operated at near atmospheric pressure, obviating the requirement for pressure vessels such those associated with integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) arrangements where a combined cycle gas turbine (CCGT) is integrated with a gasification process. A gas lofted bed gasifier may also be configmed to operate over an extended range of throughput rates, additionally with rapid turn down and turn up times, allowing the waste material supply rates and calorific values to be varied significantly. In one example, a lofted bed gasifier may be configured to allow capture of gross un-combusted material through a tramp exit of the reaction vessel allowing for the management of waste material contaminated with miscellaneous non-combustible materials such as ferrous and nonferrous metal objects. Additionally, unbumt carbon residue in the form of biochar may be captured by an extraction system such as cyclones operated in the exit path of the hot synthetic gas as shown optionally in FIG. 5.

[0094] In this manner, the carbon product biochar may be produced at a controlled temperature where in one example the biochar functions to capture metals originally present in the waste material into the carbon matrix of the biochar material. This biochar may then then be post-processed to extract these metals by application of acid to form an acidic metal solution and then subsequent reduction of the acidic metal solution to recover materials of value.

[0095] In another embodiment, the piping to introduce the enriched oxygen supply for the gas lofted bed is formed of tungsten carbide, allowing entry of the enriched oxygen within the rotating bed of solids, avoiding oxidation of the syngas itself by the oxidant. Use of tungsten carbide in this manner allows the incoming oxygen to be delivered into the reaction zone of the reactor vessel without undue damage to the oxidant injectors themselves. In another embodiment, a silicon carbide piping arrangement may be employed. In another embodiment, a silicon carbide piping arrangement may be employed.

[0096] In various examples, the reactor arrangement comprising a gas lofted bed and an oxygen enriched supply may be configured to produce a percentage hydrogen volume in the produced synthetic gas in the following ranges including, but not limited to: less than 20%, 20% - 25%, or greater than 30%.

[0097] Referring now to FIG. 6, there is shown a flowchart of a method 600 for processing a waste material and an environmental air supply to generate a hydrogen supply according to an illustrative embodiment corresponding in one example to block 110 of FIG. 1. FIG. 7 shows a system overview diagram of a hydrogen production module 700 according to an illustrative embodiment that in one example is operable to implement method 600 for generating hydrogen as set out in FIG. 6.

[0098] In this example, hydrogen production module 700 comprises a gas separator 730 that functions to separate input environmental air to produce an oxygen enriched supply (see block 610 of FIG. 6) which forms an input to gasifier 710. In this embodiment, hydrogen production module 700 further comprises heat recovery steam generator (HRSG) module 740 that functions to recover heat from the non-carbon dioxide and non-hydrogen gases produced by gas separator 720 which is further configured to generate a steam supply in accordance with block 620 of FIG. 6. In other embodiments, the steam supply may be generated through other means including, in one example, where a gas lofted bed gasifier is employed, by placing a heat exchanger placed in the syngas recirculation loop to generate steam.

[0099] At block 630, the waste material is gasified by gasifier 710 based on the oxygen enriched supply from gas separator 730 and the steam supply from in this example HRSG module 740. In one example, the steam originating from the HRSG module 540 is at an intermediate value of approximately 450°C plus or minus 50°C. In one example, use of a further steam / syngas heat exchanger allows injection of the steam supply into gasifier 710 at a temperature of between 600°C and 750°C.

[0100] By way of overview, this superheated steam supply to gasifier 710 drives the production of hydrogen and carbon dioxide over carbon monoxide formation which would typically result if only oxygen or air is used in the generation of syngas.

[0101] In one example, gasifier 710 is based on a reactor arrangement comprising a dual fluidised bed refractory lined gasifier configmed to gasify the waste material based on both the oxygen enriched supply and the steam supply. In this example, oxygen or oxygen enriched air is introduced to the primary bed to combust some fuel, while material introduced to the secondary bed is pyrolyzed and gasified in the secondary bed, using steam enrichment of the flue gasses from the primary bed as the oxidation medium.

[0102] In various examples, the reactor arrangement comprising a dual fluidised bed and an oxygen plus steam supply may be configured to produce a percentage hydrogen volume in the producedsynthetic gas in the following ranges including, but not limited to: less than 50%, 50% - 55%, 55% - 60%, 60% - 65%, or greater than 65%.

[0103] In another example, gasifier 710 is based on a reactor arrangement comprising a gas lofted bed gasifier configmed to gasify the waste material based on both the oxygen enriched supply and the steam supply.

[0104] In one example, the piping to introduce the oxygen and steam supply to the gas lofted bed of waste material and partly gasified material is formed of tungsten carbide. This improves the delivery of the oxidant gasses to the waste material being treated avoiding oxidation of the syngas itself by the oxidant. Use of tungsten carbide in this manner allows the incoming oxygen and steam blend to be delivered into the reaction zone of the reactor vessel without undue damage to the oxidant injectors themselves. In other example, a silicon carbide piping arrangement may be employed.

[0105] In various examples, the reactor arrangement comprising a gas lofted bed and an oxygen plus steam supply may be configured to produce a percentage hydrogen volume in the produced synthetic gas in the following ranges including, but not limited to: less than 55%, 55% - 60%, 60% - 65%, or greater than 65%.

[0106] Control of steam / oxygen ratio supplied to gasifier and the temperature of the gasification process is varied depending upon the waste material to be processed at a particular time noting that the waste material may range from biomass waste to RDF with a high plastic content. Some example steam / oxygen ratios applicable to both the dual bed and gas lofted bed based gasifiers and associated waste materials are set out in the following table.

[0107] It has been found that for gas lofted gasification reactors, equipped in one example with a silicon carbide oxidant injection arrangement, that the gasification process for production of a hydrogen supply based on an oxygen and steam supply in accordance with the present disclosure not only improves the hydrogen supply, but the gasifier 710 may be operated at temperatures in the range of 550°C to 850°C and at near or approximately atmospheric pressure, which as discussed above significantly reduces operating and maintenance costs. Further, the Applicant has found that any un-combusted material is predominantly in the form of biochar which is a product of value in applications ranging from manufacture of composite materials to use in agricultural processes.

[0108] In one example, the emerging syngas from gasifier 710 is at a temperature of 750°C to 850°C and is cooled by the syngas / oxygen and syngas / steam heat exchangers, before entering the cyclone(s) which separates out biochar from the gas stream.

[0109] In one example, gas separator 730 may be configmed to produce an oxygen supply at a rate of approximately 750 kg per hour (and nitrogen at a rate of approximately 6,000 kg per horn). Where additionally the steam supply is generated at a rate of 6,500 kg per hour, the gasifier 710 may then be configured to process approximately 15 tonnes of waste material per hour.

[0110] Additionally, the Applicant has found that unlike conventional gasification processes the waste material throughput rate may be varied substantially over a very short time scale. In one example, the waste material throughput rate may be varied between 30% and 100% of the nominal throughput rate over a throughput adjustment period of approximately 30 minutes. In another example, the waste material throughput rate may be varied between 50% and 100% of the nominal throughput rate over a throughput adjustment period of approximately 20 minutes. In yet another example, the waste material throughput rate may be varied between 75% and 100% of the nominal throughput rate over a throughput adjustment period of approximately 10 minutes.

[0111] In various example, the waste material throughput percentage increase / decrease rate per minute may be selected from the following ranges including, but not limited to: 0.5% - 0.75% per minute, 0.75% - 1.00% per minute, 1.00% - 1.25% per minute, 1.25% - 1.50% per minute, 1.50% - 1.75% per minute, 1.75% - 2.00% per minute, 2.00% - 2. 25% per minute, 2.25% - 2.50% per minute, or greater than 2.50% per minute.

[0112] As would be appreciated, this flexibility with respect to the throughput rate allows gasifier 710 in this example to respond dynamically to variations in the waste material supply rate and / or requirements for hydrogen gas for the generation of electricity.

[0113] Referring now to FIG. 8, there is shown a flowchart of a method 800 for processing a waste material and an oxygen supply to generate not only a hydrogen supply but further generate one or more hydrogen products according to an illustrative embodiment. FIG. 9 shows a system overview diagram of a hydrogen and hydrogen product production module 900 that in one example is operable to implement method 800 for generating hydrogen and further hydrogen products as set out in FIG. 8.

[0114] At block 810 of FIG. 8, the environmental air supply is separated to produce a nitrogen supply in addition to the oxygen enriched supply. At block 820, waste material is gasified to produce a synthetic gas supply. At block 830, the synthetic gas supply is separated to produce a hydrogen supply. Atblock 840, the nitrogen supply produced in block 810 is reacted with the hydrogen supply produced by block 830 to generate a hydrogen product in the form of an ammonia supply.

[0115] In another example, at block 830 of FIG. 8 the synthetic gas supply is separated to also produce a carbon dioxide supply and at block 850 the ammonia supply produced in block 840 may be reacted with the carbon dioxide supply to generate a hydrogen product in the form of urea.

[0116] Referring now to FIG. 9, there is shown an example hydrogen and hydrogen product production module 900 according to another illustrative embodiment. In this example, hydrogen and hydrogen production module 900 is similar to hydrogen production module 700 but also further includes the ability to form additional hydrogen products such as ammonia and / or urea through the incorporation of an ammonia generator 950 which processes the nitrogen supply produced as an output from gas separator 930 operating on the environmental air supply and the hydrogen supply produced by gas separator 920. Additionally, the ammonia produced by ammonia generator 950 may be reacted to form urea by urea generator 960 using as inputs the ammonia supply produced by ammonia generator 950 and the carbon dioxide produced by gas separator 920 that processes the syngas to produce hydrogen. As would be appreciated, single or dual bed gasifiers or gas lofted bed gasifiers may be adopted for the gasification stage by gasifier 910 in the generation of hydrogen products.

[0117] As a consequence of re-use of the carbon dioxide, hydrogen generation in accordance with this process further act as a carbon “sink” when compared to decomposition of the feedstocks sent to landfill. In another example, any surplus carbon dioxide not utilised for urea production may be purified by compression and cryogenic processes for use as food and industrial grade carbon dioxide.

[0118] In one example embodiment, the waste material is initially dried by a waste material drying module prior to processing by the gasifier to a predetermined moisture content. In one example, the predetermined moisture content is between 10% - 25%. In another example, the predetermined moisture content is between 10% - 15%. In another example, the predetermined moisture content is between 15% - 20%. In one example, the energy for initially drying the waste material is produced by the block of processing the waste material. In one example, such as would be applicable to hydrogen production modules 700 (see FIG. 7) and 900 (see FIG. 1), the energy for initially drying the waste material is sourced from the HRSG module 740, 940 in the form of hot exhaust which may be beneficially utilised for the drying process.

[0119] In one example, the drying module may one comprise one or more material driers based on the hot exhaust from the HRSG module 740, 950. In one example comprising two material driers, 10 - 15 tonnes per hour of waste material in the form of woodchip material may be dried by each drier to apredetermined moisture content of 15% which in turn assists the thermal efficiency of the gasification process.

[0120] In another example, in embodiments based on a gas lofted bed gasifier, the gas lofted reaction vessel may be operated at a temperature of between 140°C and 200°C to function as a drier module. In one example, the gas lofted reaction vessel operating in this mode is based on supplementary electrical power generated from the steam supply (see below).

[0121] In another example, processing waste material and an environmental air supply to generate a hydrogen supply (eg, see block 110 of FIG. 1) comprises storing hydrogen in a storage module from the hydrogen supply. In one example, hydrogen is compressed and pumped into storage module in the form of a pipeline at a pressure of 8,000 to 15,000 kPaG. In one example, the length of the pipeline is between 5 km - 20 km, and the pipeline is comprised of DN350 to DN550 pipe, as a result provisioning a linepack of between approximately 0.5 and 5 Terajoules. In another example, the length of the pipeline is between 5 km - 10 km. As would be appreciated, the storage module provides a buffer between the continuous operation of the waste material processing and the intermittent use of full power production based on the hydrogen supply generated by this waste material processing.

[0122] As would be appreciated, hydrogen production in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure where the processing of waste material and subsequent generation of hydrogen can be quickly ramped up and ramped down reduces the requirement for storage of hydrogen (eg, smaller pipeline) when requirements for the generation of electrical power can vary rapidly in order to meet the stability requirements of the electrical grid.

[0123] Referring back to FIG. 1, at block 120 electrical power is generated based on the hydrogen supply generated at block 110 where the power is generated to meet stability requirements of the utility scale electrical grid. In one example, electrical power is generated by an electrical power module 220 such as illustrated in FIG. 2.

[0124] Referring now to FIG. 10, there is shown an example electrical power module 1000 according to an illustrative embodiment that may be implemented as the electrical power module 220 illustrated in FIG. 2. In this example, electrical power module 1000 comprises one or more gas turbine generators 1010-1, 1010-2, ..., 1010-N operating on hydrogen supply produced by hydrogen production module 210 to produce AC electrical power. In this example, electrical power module 400 further comprises one or more hydrogen based fuel cells 1020-1, 1020-2, ... , 1020-M and associated power electronics 1030-1, 1030-2, ... , 1030-M to also produce AC electrical power.

[0125] In one example, a gas turbine generator (eg, 1010-1) may comprise an open cycle gas turbine (OCGT) employing hydrogen supply as the motive fuel that provisions approximately 4 MW.s of inertia per MVA of real power generation and the associated generators provides a further 4.5 MW.s per MVA. In this example, each OCGT is rated at 32MVA and each associated generator is rated at 35MVA. In one example application, four OCGTs and associated generators (eg, 1010-1, 1010-2, 1010-3 and 1010-4) are deployed.

[0126] As would be appreciated, electrical power module 1000 includes an associated electrical control system (not shown) operable to control the electrical power generating elements of the module. In one example, the electrical control system is a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCAD A) system operable to control each gas turbine generator 1010-1, 1010-2, ..., 1010-N to raise real power output, both using systems inertia and control response acting upon air and fuel flows.

[0127] For a utility scale electrical grid, a central management authority will function to manage the stability of the electrical grid which includes ensuring that the demand for electrical power is met by electrical power generators but also that the frequency and voltage of the electrical grid is maintained within a predetermined tolerance. In relation to managing the demand for electrical power, the central management authority will determine a forecast demand for a future time period, which will vary depending on the time of day and year to take into account usage patterns and seasonal variations, and invite participating electrical generators to bid an amount of electrical energy for this future time period at a price for supplying this electrical energy. As would be appreciated, the bid price for a particular electrical generator will be dependent on the type of generator and factors such as operating costs and whether the generator requires continuous operation and the degree to which they can change their electrical generation capacity on reduced time scales.

[0128] In one example, the central management authority will determine the forecast demand of the electrical grid at continuing predetermined time intervals (eg, 5 minute) and electrical generators will bid in advance (eg, the day before) to supply the forecast demand for these 5 minute intervals (as an example). Once all the bids are in for a given time period, a dispatch price may be determined for the electrical power to be delivered and successful electrical generators that have bid will be committed to supply the electrical power at the dispatch price. In one example, the dispatch price is at the level of the most expensive bid that was required to supply electrical capacity in order to meet the forecast demand.

[0129] As with any large scale physical system, there is often a mismatch between the forecast demand and the actual demand, as well as a mismatch between the expected or committed electrical power generation and the actual delivered electrical power to the electrical grid. As the electrical grid requires there to be a balance between the overall electrical load of the grid and the supply of electrical power to the grid in order to maintain stability, there is an additional requirement for the provision ofelectrical power having predetermined supply characteristics that are configured to meet the stability requirements of the electrical grid.

[0130] Similar to the centralised management required for the dispatching of real power, the management of these extra supply services will be forecast by the centralised management authority and bids will be made to supply electrical power having the required supply characteristics to meet the stability requirements of the grid if required.

[0131] In one example, the stability requirements of the electrical grid comprise supplying electrical power to match the forecast demand of the electrical grid. In this example, electrical power module 1000 will be configured to generate electrical power for a predetermined time period in accordance with the agreed dispatch requirements determined by the central management authority.

[0132] In another example, the stability requirements of the electrical grid comprise controlling the frequency to maintain an electrical grid frequency. As an example, for the Australian NEM referred to above, the central management authority (ie, AEMO) is tasked with maintaining the electrical grid frequency between 49.75 Hz and 50.25 Hz under standard operation within 5 minutes. These tolerances may be relaxed over certain time periods depending on whether a load or generation event has occurred on the electrical grid with more relaxed requirements depending on the severity of the event.

[0133] In this example, the predetermined supply characteristics correspond to being able to vary an electrical power output a predetermined amount within a predetermined response time on direction from the central management authority to assist in regulating an electrical grid frequency. In one example, the predetermined supply characteristics correspond to being able to vary an electrical power output a predetermined amount substantially instantly to assist in regulating the electrical grid frequency. In another example, the predetermined supply characteristics correspond to being capable of varying an electrical power output a predetermined amount within a response time of the order of seconds (eg, 6 seconds). In yet another example, the predetermined supply characteristics correspond to being capable of varying an electrical power output a predetermined amount within a response time in the order of a minute (eg, 60 seconds). In a further example, the predetermined supply characteristics correspond to being capable of varying an electrical power output a predetermined amount within a response time in the order of minutes (eg, 5 minutes).

[0134] In various other examples, the response time may be selected from the following ranges, including, but not limited to: 0 seconds - 5 seconds, 5 seconds - 10 seconds, 10 seconds - 15 seconds, 15 seconds - 20 seconds, 20 seconds to 25 seconds, 25 seconds to 30 seconds, 30 seconds - 1 minute, 1 minute - 2 minutes, 2 minutes - 3 minutes, 3 minutes - 4 minutes, 4 minutes - 5 minutes, 5 minutes - 10minutes, 10 minutes - 15 minutes, 15 minutes - 20 minutes, 20 minutes - 25 minutes, 25 minutes - 30 minutes, or greater than 30 minutes.

[0135] As an example, following the relevant bidding process there may be a dispatch notice from the central management authority requiring the dispatch of 10 MW of electrical power for a given period in addition to providing the capability to raise the electrical power instantaneously a further 4 MW over the period if requested by the central management authority. In another example, the dispatch notice may require the dispatch of 10 MW and the capability to lower the electrical power by 5 MW within a 1 minute response time.

[0136] Another example stability requirement for the electrical grid is the capacity of the grid to resist changes to the electrical grid frequency caused by a mismatch between the electrical energy supplied by the grid and the electrical load demanded of the grid. This capability of the electrical grid is termed the “electrical grid inertia”, measured in MW.s (Megawatt seconds), and would typically be provided by electrical generators in the electrical grid that comprise rotating components that are synchronised to the electrical grid frequency. As a result of the greater prevalence of intermittent renewable sources of electrical power, which typically do not have any intrinsic inertia, the ability to control by the central management authority the combined inertia of the electrical grid and the contribution by individual generators also assists in maintaining the stability of the electrical grid.

[0137] In one example, electrical power module 1000 comprising gas turbine generators 1010-1, 1010-2, ... , 1010-N are configurable to vary the inertial contribution to the electrical grid inertia upon a direction from the central management authority. In one example, the central management authority may determine for a future time period that the expected electrical grid inertia will be reduced due to the unavailability of other synchronous generating capacity in the electrical grid. In this case, the central management authority may direct electrical power module 1000 to vary its inertial contribution to the electrical grid at this future time period so the electrical grid’s capacity to resist changes to the electrical grid frequency is maintained.

[0138] In one example, one or more of the gas turbine generators 1010-1, 1010-2, ..., 1010-N may be switchable to rotate without generating real power but to provide an inertia contribution to the electrical grid. In another example, one or more of the gas turbine generators 1010-1, 1010-2, ..., 1010-N may be configured to draw power from the electrical grid to cause the generator to operate and contribute inertia without operating the gas turbine of the generator.

[0139] In various examples, the inertia contribution may be selected from the following ranges, including, but not limited to: 200 MW.s - 300 MW.s, 300 MW.s - 400 MW.s, 400 MW.s - 500 MW.s,600 MW.s - 700 MW.s, 700 MW.s - 800 MW.s, 800 MW.s - 900 MW.s, 900 MW.s - 1000 MW.s, or greater than 1000 MW.s.

[0140] As depicted in Figure 10, electrical power module 1000 further comprises one or more hydrogen based fuel cells 1020-1, 1020-2, ... , 1020-M and associated power electronics 1030-1, 1030-2, ... , 1030-M to also produce AC electrical power which would be used at times of very high electrical network demand or to utilise hydrogen that has been produced in excess to storage capacity.

[0141] In another example, the hydrogen supply for one or more of the gas turbine generators 1010-1, 1010-2, ..., 1010-N may be mixed with a hydrocarbon fuel component. In one example, the hydrocarbon fuel component is between 0% - 5 %. In another example, the hydrocarbon fuel component is between 5% - 10%. In yet another example, the hydrocarbon fuel is between 10% - 15%. In a further example, the hydrocarbon fuel component is between 15% - 20%. In an additional example, the hydrocarbon fuel component is between 20% - 30%. In one example, the hydrocarbon fuel component is natural gas or methane.

[0142] As would be appreciated, hydrogen production modules 700, 900 depicted in FIGS. 7 and 9 respectively are configured to generate a steam supply by HRSG modules 740, 940 respectively. In other embodiments, steam may be generated from the capture of waste heat from other processes. In one example embodiment, this steam supply may also be used to generate supplementary electrical power to that electrical power generated based on the hydrogen supply.

[0143] Referring now to FIG. 11, there is shown a flowchart of a method 1100 for generating electrical power for supply to a utility scale electrical grid and supplementary electrical power according to another illustrative embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 12 shows a system overview diagram of a system 1200 for generating electrical power for a utility scale electrical grid 1240 that in one example is operable to implement method 1100. System 1200 comprises a hydrogen and steam production module 1210, which in one embodiment is equivalent to hydrogen (and steam) production modules 740, 940, that processes waste material and an environmental air supply to produce both a hydrogen supply and a steam supply (eg, see block 1110 of FIG. 10) and an hydrogen based electrical power module 1220 that operates to generate electrical power (see block 11120 of FIG. 10) as well as steam based electrical power module 1230 operable to generate supplementary power based on the steam supply (eg, see block 1130 of FIG. 10).

[0144] In one example, hydrogen based electrical power module 1220 is equivalent to the electrical power module 1000 illustrated in FIG. 10 which comprises one or more hydrogen based gas turbine generators and optionally one or more hydrogen based fuel cells and associated power electronics.

[0145] In one example embodiment, steam based electrical power module 1230 comprises one or more open cycle gas turbines (OCGTs) and associated generators that generate supplementary electrical power. In one example, the hot exhaust from the OCGT is provided to HRSG module (eg, HRSG module 740, 940 in FIGS. 7 and 9 respectively) which is already provided heat from gas separator 720, 920 from combustion of residual syngas components following hydrogen (and carbon dioxide) extraction.

[0146] This supplementary electrical power may be employed to power various components of the system. In one example, the supplementary electrical power may be employed to power gas separator 530, 730, 930 in the oxygen production process for the gasifier module 510, 710, 910. In other examples, supplementary electrical power from steam based electrical power module 1230 may be used to provide electrical power to the gas lofted reaction vessel for waste material drying purposes as described above.

[0147] In another embodiment, supplementary electrical power from steam based electrical power module 1230 may be combined with electrical power from hydrogen based electrical power module 1220 for supply to the electrical grid 1240.

[0148] In another example, at times of low requested power from the electrical grid, heat provided by gas separator 720, 920 enables the HRSG module 740, 940 to generate a steam supply and maintain a low level of steam turbine generator output. As the operating elements are pre-heated at times when additional power is required, the steam turbine unit is enabled and immediately can increase the heat available to the HRSG 740, 940 which increases the steam turbine electrical output from a small number of MW to 10 to 15 MW. Accordingly, in this example at low power levels the ability to vary the electrical power by a predetermined amount within a predetermined response time is available despite the low consumption of waste material resources as the generator is turning and thus has inertia and can respond accordingly to frequency control stability requirements of the electrical grid.

[0149] Referring now to FIG. 13, there is shown a system overview diagram of an analysis module 1300 that may be configured to monitor the various outputs of systems for generating electrical power based on a hydrogen supply implemented in accordance with illustrative embodiments of the present invention.

[0150] Analysis module 1300 in this example comprises a chemical analysis module 1310 and a data recording and analysis module 1320. Chemical analysis module 1310 in one embodiment functions to receive one or more of the following chemical inputs including, but not limited to: atmospheric air (sampled broadly or locally), syngas supply stream, hydrogen supply stream, carbon dioxide supply stream and the ammonia supply stream. These chemical inputs may then be analysed using analysistechniques such as gas phase chromatography and / or mass spectrometry analysis to generate chemical analysis data generated that is provided to data recording and analysis module 1320.

[0151] In one embodiment, data recording and analysis module 1320 receives not only chemical analysis data from chemical analysis module 1310 but also operating data from the various modules of the present system including, but not limited to: drying modules, gas separation modules, gasifier modules, electrical power generation modules, ammonia generation modules and urea generation modules. In one example, data recording and analysis module 1320 generates compliance data for the relevant authorities such as emission compliance data as well as system data evidencing the processing of waste material for carbon dioxide trading. In another example, data recording and analysis module 1320 may generate one or more alarm or alert conditions for operators of the present system.

[0152] As would be appreciated, electrical power generating methods and systems implemented in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure are capable of taking what otherwise would be a waste material and supply electrical power having supply characteristics configurable to meet stability requirements such as the ability to vary electrical power output within a response time and provide inertia in a manner that reduces greenhouse emissions when compared to fossil fuel based technologies. Additionally, various embodiments of the present system have the ability to ramp rapidly between electrical power generation states to further assist in meeting these stability requirements on short time scales which enhances the overall stability of the electrical grid. Furthermore, electrical generating methods and systems implemented in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure are highly reliable sources of electrical power when compared to the intermittent electrical power generation provided by solar and wind electrical power generation arrangements.

[0153] In the context of the present disclosure, “approximately” when referring to a measurable value such as an amount, a temporal duration, and the like, is meant to encompass variations of ±20%, ±10%, ±5%, ±1%, or ±0.1% from the specified value, as such variations are appropriate to perform the disclosed methods.

[0154] The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that such prior art forms part of the common general knowledge.

[0155] It will be understood that the terms “comprise” and “include” and any of their derivatives (e.g. comprises, comprising, includes, including) as used in this specification, and the claims that follow, is to be taken to be inclusive of features to which the term refers, and is not meant to exclude the presence of any additional features unless otherwise stated or implied.

[0156] In some cases, a single embodiment may, for succinctness and / or to assist in understanding the scope of the disclosure, combine multiple features. It is to be understood that in such a case, these multiple features may be provided separately (in separate embodiments), or in any other suitable combination. Alternatively, where separate features are described in separate embodiments, these separate features may be combined into a single embodiment unless otherwise stated or implied. This also applies to the claims which can be recombined in any combination. That is a claim may be amended to include a feature defined in any other claim. Further a phrase referring to “at least one of’ a list of items refers to any combination of those items, including single members. As an example, “at least one of: a, b, or c” is intended to cover: a, b, c, a-b, a-c, b-c, and a-b-c.

[0157] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the disclosure is not restricted in its use to the particular application or applications described. Neither is the present disclosure restricted in its preferred embodiment with regard to the particular elements and / or features described or depicted herein. It will be appreciated that the disclosure is not limited to the embodiment or embodiments disclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications and substitutions without departing from the scope as set forth and defined by the following claims.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method for generating electrical power for supply to a utility scale electrical grid managed by a central management authority, comprising: processing waste material and an environmental air supply to generate a hydrogen supply; and generating electrical power based on the hydrogen supply, wherein the electrical power is generated to have predetermined supply characteristics configured to meet stability requirements of the utility scale electrical grid.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein processing a waste material and an environmental air supply to generate a hydrogen supply comprises: separating the environmental air supply to produce an oxygen enriched supply; gasifying the waste material to produce a synthetic gas supply, wherein the gasifying process is based on the oxygen enriched supply; and separating the synthetic gas supply to produce the hydrogen supply.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein processing waste material and an environmental air supply to generate a hydrogen supply further comprises generating a steam supply.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein gasifying the waste material to produce the synthetic gas supply is also based on the steam supply.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the gasifying occurs at a temperature in the range 550°C to 850°C and at approximately atmospheric pressure.

6. The method of any one of claims 3 to 5, wherein generating a steam supply is based on recovering heat from separating the synthetic gas supply to produce the hydrogen supply.

7. The method of any one of the preceding claims, wherein processing the waste material includes initially drying the waste material to a predetermined moisture content.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the energy for initially drying the waste material is produced from processing the waste material.

9. The method of any one of the preceding claims wherein a waste material throughput rate of the processing waste material step is capable of ranging between a lower limit percentage to a full percentage (ie, 100%) of a nominal waste material throughput rate over an adjustment period.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the lower limit percentage is 30% and the adjustment period is approximately 30 minutes.

11. The method of any one of claims 2 to 10, wherein processing waste material and an environmental air supply to generate a hydrogen supply further comprises generating a hydrogen product.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein generating a hydrogen product comprises: separating the environmental air supply to produce a nitrogen supply in addition to the oxygen enriched supply; and reacting the nitrogen supply with a component of the generated hydrogen supply to generate a hydrogen product in the form of an ammonia supply.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein generating a hydrogen product comprises: separating the synthetic gas supply to produce a carbon dioxide supply in addition to the hydrogen supply; and reacting the ammonia supply with the carbon dioxide supply to generate a hydrogen product in the form of urea.

14. The method of any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein processing waste material and an environmental air supply to generate a hydrogen supply further comprises producing biochar.

15. The method of any one of claims 1 to 14, further comprising storing hydrogen from the hydrogen supply.

16. The method of any one of claims 1 to 15, wherein generating electrical power based on the hydrogen supply comprises utilising one or more of: a gas turbine generator; or a hydrogen based fuel cell.

17. The method of claims 3 to 16, wherein the method further comprises generating supplementary electrical power from the steam supply by one or more steam turbine generators.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the supplementary electrical power is employed in separating the environmental air supply to produce an oxygen enriched supply.

19. The method of any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein the stability requirements of the utility scale electrical grid comprise supplying electrical power to match a forecast electrical grid demand determined by the central management authority.

20. The method of any one of claims 1 to 19, wherein the stability requirements of the utility scale electrical grid comprise controlling the frequency to maintain an electrical grid frequency.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the predetermined supply characteristics comprise varying a supplied electrical power by a predetermined amount within a predetermined response time on direction from the central management authority to maintain the electrical grid frequency.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the predetermined supply characteristics comprise varying a supplied inertial contribution to an electrical grid inertia on direction from the central management authority.

23. The method of any one of claims 1 to 22, wherein the predetermined supply characteristics comprise the capability to independently start and supply electrical power to the electrical grid on direction from the central management authority.

24. A system for generating electrical power for supply to a utility scale electrical grid managed by a central management authority, comprising: a hydrogen production module for processing waste material to generate a hydrogen supply; and an electrical power module for generating electrical power based on the hydrogen supply, wherein the electrical power is generated to have predetermined supply characteristics configured to meet stability requirements of the utility scale electrical grid.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the hydrogen production module comprises: a first gas separator for separating the environmental air supply to produce an oxygen enriched supply; a gasifier for gasifying the waste material to produce a synthetic gas supply, wherein the gasifying process is based on the oxygen enriched supply; and a second gas separator for separating the synthetic gas supply to produce the hydrogen supply.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the hydrogen production module is further configured for generating a steam supply.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the gasifier producing the synthetic gas supply is also based on the steam supply.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the gasifier operates at a temperature in the range 550°C to 850°C and at approximately atmospheric pressure.

29. The system of any one of claims 26 to 28, wherein generating a steam supply is based on recovering heat from the process of separating the synthetic gas supply to produce the hydrogen supply.

30. The system of any one of claims 25 to 29, wherein the hydrogen production module further comprises a waste material drying module for initially drying the waste material to a predetermined moisture content.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the waste material drying module is operable based on energy produced from processing the waste material.

32. The system of any one of claims 24 to 31, wherein a waste material throughput rate of the hydrogen production module is capable of ranging between a lower limit percentage to a full percentage (ie, 100%) of a nominal waste material throughput rate over an adjustment period.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the lower limit percentage is 30% and the adjustment period is approximately 30 minutes.

34. The system of any one of claims 25 to 33, wherein the hydrogen production module is further configured to generate a hydrogen product.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the hydrogen production module configmed for generating a hydrogen product comprises: the first gas separator being configured to produce a nitrogen supply in addition to the oxygen enriched supply; and an ammonia generator for reacting the nitrogen supply with a component of the generated hydrogen supply to generate a hydrogen product in the form of an ammonia supply.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the hydrogen production module configmed for generating a hydrogen product comprises: the second gas separator being configured to produce a carbon dioxide supply in addition to the hydrogen supply; and a mea generator for reacting the ammonia supply with the carbon dioxide supply to generate a hydrogen product in the form of urea.

37. The system of any one of claims 24 to 36, wherein the hydrogen production module is further configured for producing biochar.

38. The system of any one of claims 24 to 37, further comprising a storage module for storing hydrogen from the hydrogen supply.

39. The system of any one of claims 24 to 38, wherein the electrical power module comprises one or more of: a gas turbine generator; or a hydrogen based fuel cell.

40. The system of any one of claims 26 to 39, wherein the electrical power module comprises a steam based electrical power module comprising one or more steam turbine generators for generating supplementary electrical power from the steam supply.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein the supplementary electrical power is employed in separating the environmental air supply to produce an oxygen enriched supply.

42. The system of any one of claims 24 to 41, wherein the stability requirements of the utility scale electrical grid comprise supplying electrical power to match a forecast electrical grid demand determined by the central management authority.

43. The system of any one of claims 24 to 42, wherein the stability requirements of the utility scale electrical grid comprise controlling the frequency to maintain an electrical grid frequency.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the predetermined supply characteristics comprise varying a supplied electrical power by a predetermined amount within a predetermined response time on direction from the central management authority to maintain the electrical grid frequency.

45. The system of claim 43, wherein the predetermined supply characteristics comprise varying a supplied inertial contribution to an electrical grid inertia on direction from the central management authority.

46. The system of any one of claims 24 to 45, wherein the predetermined supply characteristics comprise the capability to independently start and supply electrical power to the electrical grid on direction from the central management authority.

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