Patent Grant
11525097
The subject matter relates generally to processes, systems, and facilities for processing feedstocks and converting processed feedstocks including organic or carbonaceous materials such as without limitation municipal solid wastes (MSW) into fuel.
Municipal solid waste (MSW) includes all solid materials disposed by municipalities. While some of this waste is recycled, the majority is typically dumped in landfills, where it decomposes over a period of decades or even centuries. It has been recognized that municipal solid waste contains organic materials that have energy content. If MSW is left untreated in landfills, the energy content can be drained slowly from the landfill by bacterial processes, which not only dissipate the concentrated energy but, also, produce methane, a strong greenhouse gas. Some landfills have sought to collect methane, which may be used for fuel; however, the conversion to methane takes place on long time scales, wastes much of the internal energy of the MSW, and is rather ineffective in recovering much of the available energy content of the MSW.
The earliest and most common method of recovering energy from MSW is incineration. Incineration includes the combustion of MSW or refuse-derived fuel (RDF) to produce heat, which typically powers a turbine to produce electricity. Byproducts of incineration include fly ash, bottom ash, and flue gases containing dangerous pollutants including sulfur compounds, CO2, which is a green-house gas, acid gases as well as metals, metal compounds and particulates. Fly ash and bottom ash are typically discarded in landfills. Some harmful flue gases and particulates can be scrubbed from the incineration flue stream prior to discharge into the atmosphere.
Another method of recovering energy from MSW is pyrolysis, which involves heating the organic portions of the MSW, so that thermally unstable compounds are chemically decomposed into other compounds. Those compounds mix with other volatile components to form a pyrolysis gas that typically includes tars, alkenes, aromatic hydrocarbons, sulfur compounds, steam, and carbon dioxide. The solid residue from pyrolysis process includes coke (residual carbon), which can then be burned or used as a gasification feedstock.
A related method for recovering energy from MSW is gasification. Gasification involves converting at least a fraction of the MSW into a synthesis gas (“syngas’) composed mainly of carbon monoxide carbon dioxide, and hydrogen. Gasification technology has existed for some centuries. In the nineteenth century, for instance, coal and peat were often gasified into “town gas” that provided a flammable mix of carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4) and hydrogen (H2) that was used for cooking, heating and lighting. During World Wars I and II, biomass and coal gasifies were used to produce CO and H2 to meet transportation needs. Sometimes, some of the syngas was converted directly in to liquid transportation fuels using the Fisher-Tropsch process. With the discovery of vast quantities of domestic oil and natural gas following World War II, coal and biomass gasification were no longer cost-competitive and all but disappeared.
Gasification has been applied directly to the MSW but, in other cases, the MSW is first pyrolyzed, and then subjected to a secondary gasification process. Gasification of MSW generally includes a mechanical processing step that removes recyclables and other materials that have low or no energy content. Then, the processed feedstock is heated in a gasifier in the presence of a gasification agent (including at least some oxygen and possibly steam). Gasifiers may have a number of configurations. For example, fixed-bed gasifiers place the feedstock in a fixed bed, and then contact it with a stream of a gasification agent in either a counter-current (“up draft”) or co-current (“down draft”) manner. Gasifiers may also use fluidized bed reactors.
Another method of gasifying MSW is treatment in the presence of oxygen with a high-temperature plasma. Such systems may convert the MSW to syngas, leaving vitrified wastes and metals as byproduct.
To create hydrocarbons as synthetic fuels, a known method for converting syngas into synthetic fuels is the catalytic Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) process. This process produces a mixture of hydrocarbons which could be further refined to produce liquid transportation fuels.
With numerous detrimental effects of greenhouse gases being increasingly documented, there is a clear need to reduce energy production from fossil fuels, particularly from petroleum and coal-derived fuel sources. To encourage the reduction of fossil fuel usage, governments are promoting the usage of fuels derived from renewable organic sources rather than fossil-based sources.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States has mandated a Renewable Fuel Standard (“RFS”) under which cellulosic-based fuels generate Cellulosic RINs (renewable identification numbers) which are a form of compliance credits for Obligated Parties (e.g., refineries). Under the RFS, the Obligated Parties are required to blend an increasing amount of cellulosic fuel into fossil-derived fuels.
To determine the biogenic percentage content of fuels, the EPA requires tests that use radiocarbon dating methods. More particularly, current the USEPA regulations, at Section 8.1426(f)(9), require parties to use Method B or Method C of ASTM D 6866 to perform radiocarbon dating to determine the renewable fraction of the fuel.
The present disclosure generally relates to processes and methods for converting organic materials, such as are contained in MSW, into fuels. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to processes for producing high biogenic concentration Fischer-Tropsch liquids and the respective upgraded fuel products derived from the organic fraction of municipal solid wastes (MSW) feedstocks that contain relatively high concentrations of biogenic carbon (derived from plants) and a relatively low concentration of non-biogenic carbon (derived from fossil sources) along with other non-carbonaceous materials. In practice, the relatively high concentration of biogenic carbon is up to about 80% biogenic carbon. Particularly noteworthy is that the high biogenic concentration Fischer-Tropsch liquids contain the same relatively high concentration of biogenic carbon as the feedstock derived from MSW.
In another aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure relates to feedstock processing systems and methods for producing a segregated or processed feedstock. In some embodiments, the feedstock processing system is configured to produce processed feedstock that contains a higher concentration of biogenic carbon materials than non-biogenic carbon materials. For example in some embodiments, the processed feedstock has a biogenic carbon content in the range of 50% to 100% by weight, or 51% to 95% by weight. In other embodiments, the feedstock processing system is configured to process multiple feedstock streams such as but not limited to, MSW feedstock streams, woody biomass or other biomass feedstock streams, plastic feedstock streams, and mixtures of any of the aforementioned streams. In another embodiment where plastics are included in the feedstock steam, the processed feedstock may have a biogenic carbon content of 50% or less by weight.
In another embodiment, the present disclosure provides a method for processing feedstock, characterized in that incoming feedstock is processed to selectively recover biogenic carbon material from the incoming feedstock. In some embodiments the incoming feedstock is comprised of mixed solid waste. In other embodiments the incoming feedstock is comprised of woody biomass. In some embodiments, the mixed solid waste is municipal solid waste (MSW). In some instances, the incoming feedstock is processed to selectively recover biogenic carbon material from the incoming feedstock to produce a processed feedstock having biogenic carbon content of 50% and greater suitable for conversion into biogenic carbon Fischer Tropsch liquids. The high biogenic carbon Fischer Tropsch liquids may be upgraded to biogenic carbon liquid fuels. In alternative embodiments, the incoming feedstock is processed to selectively recover plastic material from the incoming feedstock to produce a processed feedstock having biogenic carbon content of 50% or less.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated into this specification, illustrate one or more exemplary embodiments of the inventions disclosed herein and, together with the detailed description, serve to explain the principles and exemplary implementations of these inventions. One of skill in the art will understand that the drawings are illustrative only, and that what is depicted therein may be adapted, based on this disclosure, in view of the common knowledge within this field.
Various embodiments, including additions and modifications to the illustrated embodiment, of the present inventions are described herein in the context of converting feedstock derived from MSW waste into fuels.
In the Drawings:
Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the following detailed description is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. Other embodiments of the present inventions will readily suggest themselves to such skilled persons having the benefit of this disclosure, in light of what is known in the relevant arts, the provision and operation of information systems for such use, and other related areas. Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary implementations of the present inventions as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of the exemplary implementations described herein are shown and described. It will of course, be appreciated that in the development of any such actual implementation, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made in order to achieve the specific goals of the developer, such as compliance with regulatory, safety, social, environmental, health, and business-related constraints, and that these specific goals will vary from one implementation to another and from one developer to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a developmental effort might be complex and time-consuming but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking of engineering for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.
Throughout the present disclosure, relevant terms are to be understood consistently with their typical meanings established in the relevant art. However, without limiting the scope of the present disclosure, further clarifications and descriptions are provided for relevant terms and concepts as set forth below:
The term municipal solid waste (MSW) as used herein has the same meaning as the term is understood by one of skill in the art. An example of MSW is the solid waste that is obtained from the collection of commercial and household trash. In its raw form, MSW need not be entirely solid, as it may contain entrained or absorbed liquids, or liquids in containers or other enclosed spaces. One of skill in the art will understand that MSW will have a broad range of compositions, and that the source of MSW need not necessarily be from a municipality. For purposes of this disclosure, other organic waste materials and various biomass materials such as vegetative matter, may be equivalent to MSW.
The term stream as used herein means any fluid or solid moving or en route, directly or indirectly, from one location to another. A stream is still a stream even if it is temporarily stationary.
Reference to a portion of a stream or material refers to any portion of the stream or material, including the stream or material in its entirety. A portion of a stream or material may be mixed with other compositions of matter and the mixture will be considered to comprise the portion of the original stream or material.
The term in fluid communication with as used herein includes without limitation both direct and indirect fluid communication, such as, for example, through an intermediate process unit.
The term unit as used herein means part of a system, and may for example comprise a unit operation, a system or group of unit operations, a plant, etc.
The term syngas (synthesis gas) as used herein has the same meaning as the term is used by one of skill in the art. For example, syngas may comprise a combination of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide and possibly other components such as, without limitation, water vapor, sulfur- or nitrogen-containing compounds, methane and other alkanes, hydrocarbons, acid gases, halogens and particulates.
The term separator as used herein refers to any process unit known in the art for performing a separation process and, depending upon context, can include distillation columns, membrane separation systems, ion exchange adsorption systems, thermal adsorption, pressure swing adsorption, molecular sieves, flash drums, absorption or adsorption columns, wet scrubbers, venturi scrubbers, centrifuges, chromatographs, or crystallizers. Separators may separate vapors from liquids, liquids from liquids, vapors from liquids from solids, solids from solids, or fluids from solids.
The term heat exchanger as used herein includes without limitation any heat exchanger or heat exchange device known in the art, and more broadly, any device which raises the enthalpy or internal energy of a first composition of matter, decreases the enthalpy or internal energy of a second composition of matter, and transfers heat from the second composition of matter to the first composition of matter. Various heat exchange means are disclosed herein, all of which are encompassed within this term. The term also includes combinations or series of multiple heat exchange means. It includes, without limitation, shell and tube heat exchangers, air or “fin-fan” coolers, refrigeration units, chillers, cooling towers, steam generators, boilers, plate heat exchangers, adiabatic wheel heat exchangers, plate fin heat exchangers, fluid heat exchangers, waste heat recovery units of any kind, or phase change heat exchangers of any kind. They may operate in a countercurrent, parallel, crosscurrent configuration, or any other flow configuration, and may involve separation of two fluids or direct contact between two fluids, or the use of an intermediate fluid (such as water, hot oil, molten salt, etc.) to transfer heat from one fluid to another.
The term compressor as used herein includes anything that is understood as a compressor in the normal sense of that term. In general, however, the term includes any device that raises a fluid from a first pressure to a second, higher pressure, either adiabatically or non-adiabatically. It may include any kind of compressor or pump, including without limitation, centrifugal or axial, or positive displacement (such as reciprocating, diaphragm, or rotary gear). The term may also include one or more stages of a multi-stage compressor. The term compressor used in the singular may also refer to multiple compressors arranged in series and/or parallel.
In
At the head of the system 11, a MSW feedstock producing facility, generally designated by the numeral 13, is provided for removing non-biogenic derived carbon materials and non-carbonaceous materials from MSW to produce a segregated feedstock that contains a relatively high concentration of biogenic carbon and a relatively low concentration of non-biogenic carbon along with other non-carbonaceous materials found in MSW.
In the preferred embodiment, the Feedstock Processing Facility 13 will process inbound MSW and separate materials into the following categories:
By recovering plastics such as High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) and Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) among others, the percentage of non-biogenic carbon in the feedstock is reduced as the percentage of fossil based plastics is reduced. Thus, the feedstock processing facility functions to provide a highly biogenic feedstock material that can be gasified into syngas. For the reasons explained above, the biogenic percentage content of the feedstock has a significant impact on the economic value of the cellulosic fuel.
In the feedstock processing unit 13, the waste material may be sized, separated, and processed to remove materials that are not useful in the process, or which might reduce its efficiency. For example, the system removes metals, inorganic materials, and wet materials such as food waste or agricultural products. Such materials may, for example, be recycled or sent to a landfill. Some of the food waste and agricultural materials which are high in biogenic content could be dried and added back to the feed stream along with other materials.
As indicated in the drawing, the Feedstock Processing Facility 13 can be physically separate facility from the other portions of the system shown in
Although the feedstock may vary greatly in composition, in one exemplary embodiment: incoming material (reference number 1200 in
One example of nominal elemental composition of the material remaining after the feedstock is recycled and sorted are listed in Table 1 below.
The residual materials preferably excluded by the processing, storage, and handling process may include, for instance, metals, rocks, dirt, glass, concrete, and PVC. Preferably, under normal conditions, the reject rate will run between about 10% and about 55% of the total feed rate to the material processing unit. Preferably, they will be individually separated from the feedstock, deposited in a container, and transported to a landfill or composting operation, or sent for recycling or disposal off-site in accordance with applicable governmental regulations.
An important point is that a bio-refinery, generally designated by the numeral 17, is fed with a stream 15 containing relatively high concentration of biogenic carbon and the relatively low concentration of non-biogenic carbons along with other non-carbonaceous materials from the municipal solid wastes. In practice, the relatively high concentration of biogenic carbon is up to about 80% biogenic carbon.
The remainder of the system depicted in
In the illustrated embodiment, the bio-refinery 17 includes a gasification system, generally designated by the numeral 21 and sometimes referred to herein as the Gasification Island (GI), for converting feedstock derived from MSW into syngas and further processing that syngas through a hydrocarbon reformer (HR), as will described below, to generate a high biogenic content syngas. It should be noted that the gasification system 21 receives streams 231 and 235 that carry recycled hydrocarbon products and intermediate products, respectively, to the HR. Also, the GI 21 receives a stream 27 that carries recycled CO2 to its stage 1 and stage 2, both of which will be described in detail below. Also, as will be explained further below, the recycled CO2 is used for moderating the water-gas-shift reaction within the steam reformer in the GI 21 and as a purge gas for instruments, instrument systems and MSW feeder systems. Further, the GI 21 receives stream 273 of oxygen and a stream 25 of F-T tail gas.
In the gasification island 21, generally speaking, the biogenic carbon is converted into biogenic syngas by a combination of steam reforming, sub-stoichiometric carbon oxidation and hydrocarbon reformation. The syngas product, including CO, H2 and CO2, is carried by stream 29 in the illustrated embodiment. The gasification reactions occurring in the GI 21 will be further described below.
The syngas stream 29 is processed in a syngas conditioning system 41, as will be described in more detail below, to provide a syngas feed stream 31 to an F-T reactor system 33. It should be noted that the syngas conditioning system 41 provides the CO2 recycle stream 27 for recycling CO2 back to the GI 21.
The output from the F-T reactor system 33 comprises F-T fluids, including a Medium Fischer Tropsch Liquid (MFTL) stream 520 and a Heavy Fischer Tropsch liquid (HFTL) stream 540, both of which are F-T hydrocarbons. Any unreacted syngas can be recycled in the F-T reactor 33 as will be described below. Further, the output of the F-T reactor system 33 includes the afore-mentioned stream 25 of F-T tail gas.
The bio-refinery includes a hydrogen recovery system to remove hydrogen that is needed for upgrading from the conditioned syngas. A portion of the conditioned syngas flows through a combination membrane/PSA unit to yield a high purity hydrogen stream for the upgrading unit. The recovered hydrogen (permeate) from the membrane is fed to a PSA unit and the retentate is combined with bypass syngas and fed forward to the FT reactor. The recovered hydrogen is fed to the PSA unit where a relatively pure hydrogen stream is produced (>99.5% H2) and the PSA reject stream is routed to the suction of the syngas compressor for recovery of the reject syngas.
The bio-refinery 17 in
The gasification island system 21, as shown in detail in
a. Stage 1—steam reforming;
b. Stage 2—sub-stoichiometric carbon oxidation to gasify unreacted carbon after steam reforming; and
c. Stage 3—hydrocarbon reforming.
In the illustrated embodiment, the gasification unit, generally designated by the numeral 211, includes stage 1 and 2 units, generally designated by the numerals 251 and 271, respectively. It can be understood that unit 251 is a steam reformer wherein gasification is accomplished. Further it can be understood that unit 271 is a carbon oxidation system wherein unreacted carbon from the stage 1 gasification is converted into syngas sub-stoichiometrically. Also in the gasification island 21, hydrocarbon reforming is provided in a third stage by a hydrocarbon reforming system generally designated by the numeral 215.
Steam reformer 251 selectively receives the stream 15 of processed feedstock and produces a stream 219 of syngas. Also, the gasification unit 211 receives streams 27 of recycled CO2. In the gasification unit 211, the recovered high biogenic CO2 in stream 27 can be used to assist in fluidizing the bed materials, moderating the water-gas-shift reaction and purging instruments in the steam reformer 251, in the sub-stoichiometric carbon oxidation unit 271 and in the hydrocarbon reformer 215. Also, the recovered high biogenic CO2 in stream 27 can be added to stream 15 of processed feedstock as shown.
As mentioned above, the gasification unit 211 in the embodiment of
In the preferred embodiment, the steam reformer 251 is a fluidized bed system that utilizes superheated steam, CO2, and O2 as the bed-fluidizing medium. In another embodiment only steam and O2 are used as a bed-fluidizing medium. Preferably, externally-fired indirect heaters 253 maintain the reformer bed temperature and provide much of the energy to support the endothermic reactions required in the gasification process. The process gas stream can exit the steam reformer 251 through a series of cyclones. Preferably, an internal cyclone separates and returns the majority of any entrained bed media to the reformer fluidized bed while a second external cyclone collects unreacted char for further conversion to syngas in the sub-stoichiometric carbon oxidation unit 271. Preferably, flue gas from the steam reformer's indirect heaters is used in a fire tube boiler to generate steam for plant use.
The illustrated hydrocarbon reformer unit 215 receives the syngas stream 219 and produces the afore-mentioned primary stream 29 of syngas containing CO, H2 and CO2 along with trace constituents. Further, the hydrocarbon reformer unit 215 receives stream 273 of oxygen and stream 25 of F-T tail gas. Finally, the hydrocarbon reformer unit 215 receives the aforementioned streams 231 of naphtha and 233 of off gas.
The hydrocarbon reformer unit 215 operates to recover the biogenic carbon by thermally dissociating hydrocarbons at temperatures greater than 2200 degrees F. Heat for the hydrocarbon reformer is provided by oxidation of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. It may be noted that these reactions are exothermic.
The hydrocarbon reformer unit 215, in the embodiment of
In preferred practice, the hydrocarbon reforming unit 215 is a refractory-lined vessel with oxygen gas burner/mixer which operates in the range of 1800° F. to 3000° F. to assure all hydrocarbon compounds in the gas stream, including tars are converted to syngas, sulfur compounds are converted to H2S, and the water gas shift reactions approach equilibrium. In the hydrocarbon reforming unit 215, the F-T tail gas purged from the F-T reaction loop, the purification system off gas, and stream 231 of vaporized naphtha are converted back to CO and H2.
The sub-stoichiometric carbon oxidation unit 271, in addition to receiving the solids stream 256, receives the stream 27 of recycled CO2 stream and a stream 273 of oxygen. Heating in the carbon sub-stoichiometric oxidation unit 271 is provided by sub-stoichiometric oxidation of the unreacted carbon. A stream 275 of low pressure steam is superheated in the sub-stoichiometric carbon oxidation unit and used as fluidization steam for both stage 1 and stage 2 gasification. The output of the sub-stoichiometric carbon oxidation unit 271 is syngas stream 277 which, in the illustrated embodiment, joins with the syngas stream 254 from steam reformer 251 to form syngas stream 219 which is fed to the hydrocarbon reformer unit 215.
In the preferred embodiment, the sub-stoichiometric carbon oxidation unit 271 utilizes a fluidized bed in which oxygen is added with the fluidization steam and CO2 to further convert fine char to syngas. The gasses generated in and passing through the sub-stoichiometric carbon oxidation unit 271 pass through an external cyclone and re-enter the main syngas stream 219. Preferably, the ash removed in the cyclone is cooled and transported to a collection silo for offsite disposal. Heat exchangers, submerged in the fluid bed of the sub-stoichiometric carbon oxidation unit 271 remove some heat by superheating low-pressure steam to 1100° F. for use in the fluidization bed steam reformer 251 and the fluidization bed of the unit 271 itself.
In operation of the system of
As mentioned above, the output of the hydrocarbon reformer unit 215 is the syngas stream 29 which is fed to the syngas conditioning system 41 which will now be described in conjunction with
As shown in
As can be seen from the drawings, steam is generated from several sources inside the process. A HRSG recovers steam from the flue gas generated in the indirect fired heater unit 253 in the steam reformer unit 251. Steam is also generated in the HRSG unit 411 that recovers heat from the syngas stream 29 leaving the gasification island and steam is generated in the power boiler. The steam from all three sources are combined and superheated to provide the medium pressure steam used as the motive fluid in either syngas compressor (unit 431) steam turbine or a steam turbine power generator (
The syngas scrubber unit 421 is a conventional gas scrubbing device that receives the syngas stream 420 and a stream 424 of caustic or other suitable alkaline solution. The liquids removed from the scrubber unit 421 comprise sour water stream 426 which can be conveyed to a wastewater treatment system. The sour water may contain undesirable contaminants such as, for example, ash particles, acids, mercury, and acidic compounds such as hydrochloric acid (HCl) and hydrogen sulfide (H2S) that are removed from the syngas. Thus, t can be appreciated that the syngas scrubber unit 421 is provided to remove contaminants that can potentially damage downstream equipment and affect the F-T synthesis catalyst performance.
Preferably, the syngas scrubber unit has three primary sections—a venturi scrubber, a packed tower section, and a direct contact cooler section. If a syngas quench cooler is utilized then approximately half of the cleaned syngas leaving the syngas scrubber unit will be circulated back to the hydrocarbon reformer quench cooler via the quench blowers while the remaining half will be compressed in the syngas compressor 431 to meet the requirements of the F-T synthesis process. If a radiant slagging cooler is employed the recycle gas blower will not be required and the flow into the scrubber will equal the flow leaving the gasification island 21. Syngas scrubbing is further described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/138,635, the disclosure of which has been incorporated herein by reference. The scrubbed syngas is conveyed in stream 428.
In the illustrated embodiment, a syngas compressor stage 431 comprising one or more conventional compressor stages 433 arranged in series to raise the pressure of a compressor inlet stream comprising at least a portion of the syngas stream to a predefined level, thereby outputting a compressed syngas stream 434. In practice, the final pressure of the syngas stream 434 may range between about 400 psig to about 600 psig to meet the process requirements of the F-T synthesis process. Preferably, the heat of compression is removed with intercoolers after all but the final stage with all condensed water being collected and sent to the waste water treatment plant for recovery. The outlet of the compressor is sent hot to primary guard bed 436 where any COS and HCN is hydrolyzed to H2S and NH3 and then to the shift reactor 441.
In one embodiment, the syngas compressor drive is an extraction/condensing turbine that is driven by superheated high pressure steam with a portion of the steam extracted at low pressure for process requirements. Also, the F-T recycle compressor (unit 511 in
As also shown in
In the embodiment of
As further shown in
In the illustrated embodiment of
Syngas from the H2S/Arsine guard beds flows into the hydrogen recovery unit 481. The hydrogen recovery unit 481 extracts a steam 482 of high purity H2 which is required for the Hydrocracking Upgrading process, as described below. The output of the H2 recovery unit 481 is the syngas feed stream 31 to the F-T reactor 33. A third output from the hydrogen recovery unit 481 is a stream 483 of rejected syngas. The stream 483 can be recycled to join the stream 428.
In the preferred embodiment, the hydrogen recovery unit (HRU) 481 extracts H2 using a combination membrane and pressure swing adsorption (“PSA”) system. The HRU membrane retentate gas is re-mixed with the bulk syngas stream and sent to the F-T Liquids Reactors. The HRU PSA purge gas is routed to the suction of the Syngas Compressor 431 and the purified H2 stream 482 is sent to upgrading.
As illustrated in
In the preferred embodiment as illustrated in
Also as illustrated in
As
In an alternative embodiment, the pre-fractionate the MFTL can be pre-fractionated and there can be removal of the light fraction overhead to the hydrocarbon reformer; then, the heavy fraction along with the HFTL would be conveyed to the hydrocracker for upgrading. This embodiment removes most of the oxygenates from the stream flowing to the hydrocracker and lessens the hydrotreating load on the hydrocracker.
As further illustrated in
In the illustrated embodiment of the, hydrocarbon thermal separation system 701, the crackate is cooled in a feed/effluent heat exchanger 702 and the heavy crackate is separated from the light crackate in a heavy crackate separator 703. From the heavy crackate separator 703, the heavy crackate syncrude is routed to a fractionator 853, as by streams 704 and 750. In addition, some of the heavy crackate can be recycled to the hydrocracker 643 to keep material flowing into the hydrocracker during startup and when the fractionation column is malfunctioning.
In the illustrated embodiment, a light crackate separator 705 is provided for separating the light crackate from heavy crackate water and hydrogen. The separated light crackate is routed to the fractionator 853 by stream 750. The heavy crackate water is sent, as by line 706, to the bio-refinery's waste water treatment plant for treatment. The separated hydrogen gas is routed to recycle as by streams 708. 741 and 742.
The fractionation process in
The outputs from the fractionator 853 include overhead stream 23 that carries recyclable hydrocarbon products. Preferably, the overhead stream 823 which is provided into a condenser unit 860 where the stream is condensed and separated into three streams: main fractionator (“MF”) water stream 862, the afore-mentioned light phase (naphtha) stream 231, and offgas stream 233. In practice, the naphtha can be refluxed back into the fractionator 53 and/or sent to a Naphtha Vaporizer for injection into the hydrocarbon reformer. The offgas stream 233 is recycled by the off gas compressor to the hydrocarbon reformer for reprocessing. The bottoms from the fractionator column 853 are pumped to the hydrocracking charge vessel 560, as by stream 855, for additional hydrocracking. MF Water is sent to the bio-refinery's wastewater treatment plant for treatment.
Naphtha from the Fractionator OH Separator is pumped into the Naphtha Vaporizer where it is vaporized using low-pressure steam. The naphtha vapor then flow into the hydrocarbon reformer 215 of
The SPK product, withdrawn by the steam 856 from the upper part of the fractionator 853, is sent to the Product Stripper column 857 for final product separation. The heat to the product Stripper column 857 is provided, for example, by a natural gas fired Product Stripper Reboiler. The Product Stripper overhead stream recycles back to the Fractionator 853. The bottoms stream 800 is cooled and sent, via the stream 58, to storage unit 803 as the SPK product.
As shown in
The syngas stream 466 is fed to an amine solvent system, generally indicated by the numeral 491. In the illustrated embodiment, the amine solvent system 491A comprises an absorber unit 493 and a regenerator unit 495 connected in counter-current relationship. The output of the regenerator unit 493 is the aforementioned syngas feed stream 470. The output of the absorber unit 495 is the aforementioned stream 27 of recycled CO2.
In the preferred embodiment of
As shown in
In embodiment of
In operation of CO2/H2S removal system in
In the overall operation of the above-described system, multiple reactions take place as MSW is gasified. The major reaction occurs at elevated temperatures when char (carbon) reacts with steam to produce syngas primarily made up of hydrogen (H2), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), and some hydrocarbons:
C+H2O→H2+CO
2C+O2→2CO
C+O2→CO2
Simultaneously, the reversible “water gas shift” reaction
CO+H2O↔CO2+H2,
approaches equilibrium conditions with the CO/H2O and the CO2/H2 ratios based on the equilibrium constant at the gasifier operating temperature. The gasification system may be configured, and conditions provided, so that at least the following gasification reaction occurs:
C+H2O→H2+CO.
Simultaneously, conditions may preferably be provided so that the following reversible “water shift” reaction reaches an equilibrium state determined mainly by the temperature of the gasifier, the pressure preferably being near atmospheric:
CO+H2O↔CO2+H2.
The primary FT reaction converts syngas to higher molecular weight hydrocarbons and water in the presence of a catalyst:
nCO+(2n+1)H2→CnH2n+2+nH2O.
Further as to the overall operation of system, it should be noted that the syngas produced in the gasification island 21 has an insufficient quantity of hydrogen for the effective production and upgrading of F-T liquids. The Sour shift reactor 441 generates additional hydrogen to increase the H2:CO ratio in the syngas from about 0.8 to approximately 2.0. The water gas shift reaction converts a portion of the CO and H2O in the syngas to H2 and CO2. The reaction is exothermic and occurs over a sour shift catalyst. The reaction is a “sour shift” as H2S is still present in the syngas stream. Utility steam and steam generated by the Shift Reactor 441 are mixed with the syngas to provide the water for the water-gas shift reaction and to moderate the temperature rise in the reactor. Hydrogen production and the syngas H2:CO ratio are controlled by bypassing a portion of the syngas stream around the Shift Reactor. The Shift Reactor effluent heat is recovered by interchanging with the reactor influent syngas, generating shift reactor steam, and pre-heating boiler feed water.
Referring to
In general, the feedstock processing system 1000 may be configured to process feedstock or other material, such as waste, to produce processed feedstock having selective biogenic carbon content. The feedstock processing system 1000 provides flexible processing of one or more feedstocks to generate a processed feedstock tailored to a specific facility, application or need. For example in some embodiments, the feedstock processing system 1000 may be configured to optimize or maximize recovery of biogenic carbon material from the raw or initial feedstock input to the system 1000 to produce a processed feedstock having high biogenic carbon content. In other embodiments, the biogenic carbon content in the processed feedstock is selectively controlled to be in a specific range and is not necessarily maximized. For example, it may be desirable to produce a processed feedstock that contains a certain amount of non-biogenic carbon material, such as but not limited to carbon derived from plastics, in addition to biogenic carbon material. And in further embodiments, it may be desirable to process greater content of non-biogenic carbon material, such as end of life plastics, such that the biogenic carbon content of the processed feedstock is less than 50% by weight. As noted above, all percentage (%) values are weight percent (wt. %) unless indicated otherwise.
In general, the feedstock input to the system 1000 may be any type of material. In some embodiments, the feedstock will include organic waste material. For purposes of this disclosure the term organic waste materials or waste is broadly understood and intended to include any organic or carbonaceous material, such as but not limited to MSW, woody biomass, cellulosic material, plastics, and the like.
Generally for purposes of this disclosure, the term “high” biogenic carbon with respect to the processed feedstock is made up of at least 51% biogenic carbon material by weight. Embodiments of the feedstock processing system 1000 may be configured to produce processed feedstocks having a biogenic carbon content in the range of 50% to 100%. In other embodiments, the feedstock processing system 1000 may be configured to produce processed feedstocks having a biogenic carbon content in the range of 51% to 95%. Alternatively, the feedstock processing system 1000 may be configured to process plastics to produce a processed feedstock having biogenic carbon content in the range of 50% or less.
The feedstock processing system 1000 may be configured to process a large variety of feedstock material input into the system 1000 by one or more feedstock streams 1200. In some embodiments, the feedstock material 1200 may include mixed solid waste, such as wet organic waste, dry organic waste and inorganic waste that is comingled in one or more waste streams. In other embodiments, the feedstock material may include biomass materials, such as woody biomass or vegetative material, or mixtures thereof. In another embodiment, the feedstock may include plastics. The plastics can be mixed in with mixed solid waste or can be input in a separate waste stream (as shown in
As illustrated in
After this initial sort, the MSW (stream 1205) may be fed into a size reduction unit 1230 where the 10 inch and over material in stream 1205 may be reduced. For example, the size reduction unit 1230 may include a conveyor (not shown) feeding a shear-type (or equal) shredder. The MSW (stream 1205) may be shredded to a minus 10-inch size producing material in stream 1235. The size reduced/shredded MSW in stream 1235 may be sent to fractionation unit 1240. Any suitable type of fractionation device may be implemented herein. The fractionation unit 1240 may be used to remove non-biogenic carbons along with other non-carbonaceous materials from the stream 1235 to produce stream 1245. Stream 1245 may include biogenic carbon material and other carbonaceous materials. The reject stream 1242 from fractionation unit 1240 may range in size from 1-4 inches and contain a high percentage of non-carbonaceous material. Any suitable type of fractionation unit may be implemented. For example, stream 1245 may be screened in a cascading finger-type screen unit 1240 to remove fine material smaller than two inches. The fine materials may include dirt, glass, wet organics, and other inerts. Wet organics may include, for example, grass clippings and food waste. For purposes of this description, the term inert material or “inerts” refers to any non-carbonaceous material.
Material in stream 1245 is further processed in fractionation density separation unit 1250, which is configured to separate the heavy/medium fraction from the light fraction in stream 1245. The heavy/medium fraction containing materials such as dirt, gravel, glass, metal, yard waste, and food waste may be separated as stream 1255 from a light fraction (Density separation ratios in the range of 2:2 to 5:1) and sent to a residual material station 1290. The light or fine fraction in stream 1257 typically contains the carbonaceous materials such as paper, plastic and textiles. A suitable type of unit for the fine fractionation would be a density type air separation unit.
MSW stream 1257 output from the fine fractionation and density separation unit 1250 can be further processed by removing ferrous material in ferrous removal unit 1270 (also sometimes referred to as magnetic separators). Magnetic separators in the ferrous removal unit 1270 remove the ferrous metals to produce a high carbonaceous material output (stream 1277). The ferrous materials separated in stream 1275 can be recovered at recovered metals station 1278 and ultimately to a recycling station.
MSW stream 1277 output from ferrous removal unit 1270 can be further processed by removing non-ferrous metal materials in non-ferrous removal unit 1280, to produce a higher carbonaceous MSW output stream 1287. The non-ferrous metal materials separated in stream 1285 can be recovered at recovered non-ferrous metals station 1288 and ultimately to a recycling station. The non-ferrous metals 1288 may include, for example, aluminum, copper, and non-magnetic steel. In some embodiments, eddy current separators may be used to remove non-ferrous metals to produce the high carbonaceous material output stream 1287.
Additionally, MSW stream 1287 may be further processed to remove and recover plastics from stream 1287 in plastic removal unit 1300 to produce MSW output stream 1307. The plastic removal unit 1300 may include a set of near-infrared optical sorters configured to separate out plastics in stream 1305. The plastics 1305 may include but not limited to a mixture of a polyethylene terephthalate (“PET”) plastic stream and a combined polyvinyl chloride (“PVC”) and high-density polyethylene (“HDPE”) and low-density polyethylene (LDPE) plastics stream. Polystyrene (“PS”) and polypropylene (“PP”) may be recovered with the HDPE/PVC stream by adjusting the optical sorter setting. The separated plastics in stream 1305 may be baled and stored at a recovered plastics station 1308 for off-site shipment and sale. Now that the inerts, ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals, “wet” organics and plastics are removed from the processed feedstock stream 1307, carbonaceous material in stream 1307 is fed into a second size reduction unit 1310 for final comminuting. The material in stream 1307 may be comminuted to any desired size depending on the requirements for the final processed feedstock. For example, the feedstock material may be shredded to a size in the range of 0.75 to 1.5 inches depending on process requirements.
Once comminuted to the desired size, the sized processed feedstock material in stream 1315 is typically dried in a drying unit 1320 to feedstock specification to produce a final processed feedstock in stream 1325. The final processed feedstock stream 1325 may be transferred to a bio-refinery where it is converted into F-T liquids and liquid fuels, as discussed above. In some embodiments the final processed feedstock may be made up of material sized in the range of 0.75 to 1.25 inch. The final processed feedstock has low moisture content, generally in the range of about 8%-15%. Specifically, the final processed feedstock may have a low moisture content less than about 10%. The final processed feedstock may include low inert material content. For example, the low inert material content may be in the range of 0.5-2.5%. Alternatively, the low inert material content may be less than 2%. The recovery of carbonaceous material is between 35-40%
In general, the feedstock processing system 1020 may be configured to process raw feedstock, such as waste, to produce a processed feedstock having selective biogenic carbon content. The feedstock processing system 1020 provides flexible processing of raw feedstock to generate a processed feedstock tailored to a specific facility, application or need. The feedstock processing system 1020 of
For example, feedstock processing system 1020 as shown in
The larger material in stream 1225 is fed into a size reduction unit 1230 where the 10 inch and over material in stream 1225 is further comminuted by being fed onto a conveyor (not shown) feeding a shear-type shredder. The shear-type shredder may shred the larger material to a minus 10-inch size producing material. The shredded minus 10-inch size MSW material is produced in stream 1235.
The smaller material in stream 1215 (e.g., 10 inch under material) is sent from the rough separation unit 1220 to a fractionation density separation unit 1260 where the heavy/medium fraction is separated from the light fraction. The heavy/medium fraction is separated into stream 1267 and generally contains materials such as dirt, gravel, glass, metal, yard waste, and food waste. The lighter fraction is separated into stream 1265 and generally contains paper, plastics and textiles and other carbonaceous material. Density separation ratios in the range of 2:2 to 5:1 are achievable to separate the lighter fraction from the heavy fraction.
The heavy/medium fraction stream 1267 is sent to the first fractionation density separation unit 1250 where it combines with stream 1245. The light fraction (stream 1265) from the density fractionator 1260 may contain paper, plastics and textiles may be sent to a final comminuting step at 1310 where it is mixed with other product streams prior to drying the feedstock product. This embodiment increases the recovery of carbonaceous material to between 44-50%
To provide additional recovery of carbonaceous material from the feedstock, system 1030 includes additional fine fractionation units. In the example shown, three fractionation density separation units are used; two primary and one secondary units. The primary units 1250 and 1260 are configured as described in feedstock processing system 1020. A secondary fractionation density separation unit 1244 is configured to increase the recovery of the carbonaceous material from the reject stream 1242 of the fractionation unit 1240. In this embodiment, the basic fractionation unit 1240 produces two output streams 1242 and 1245 of differing size. Generally, output stream 1242 contains smaller fine material (<two inches) which is sent to the secondary fractionation density separation unit 1244 where the material is classified based on density to recover some of the carbonaceous material from stream 1242 that was screened out with the inert fraction in fractionation unit 1240. The materials in stream 1242 that were removed in unit 1240 may include paper, textiles, in addition to dirt, glass, wet organics, and other inerts. Wet organics may include, for example, grass clippings and food waste. The heavy/medium fraction from unit 1244, stream 1246 is sent to the residual material and the light fraction, stream 1248 is combined with the light fraction from unit 1250 and sent to the ferrous removal unit 1270. The light fraction (stream 1248) from the secondary density fractionator 1244 may contain paper, plastics and textiles. For purposes of this description, the term inert material 1202, 1246 and 1255 or “inerts” refers to any non-carbonaceous material. The inert material 1202, 1246 and 1255 is sent to an inert material station 1290. The inerts may be removed to produce a high carbonaceous material output (streams 1248 and 1257). Streams 1248 and 1257 are sent to the ferrous removal station 1270 and further processed as described above with respect to
The feedstock processing system 1040 includes one additional secondary fractionation density separation units 1090 downstream from one of the primary fractionation density separation unit 1260. The inert stream 1267 from primary fractionation density separation unit 1260 is sent to the secondary fractionation density and separation unit 1090 to recovery additional carbonaceous material. More carbonaceous material is recovered when operating two fractionation density separation devices in series due to the wider density range achievable. The inert material 911 will be sent to residue material station 1290 and the carbonaceous material stream 912 is sent to the first fractionation density separation unit 1250 where it combines with stream 1245. Operations downstream of unit 1260 are described illustrated above in
In a further aspect of the present inventions, a feedstock processing system is provided configured to process multiple initial feedstock streams containing carbonaceous material.
In general, the feedstock processing system 1050 is be configured to process one or more initial or raw feedstock streams to produce processed feedstock having selective biogenic carbon content. The feedstock processing system 1050 provides flexible processing of multiple feedstocks to generate processed feedstock tailored to a specific facility, application or need. The feedstock processing system 1050 of
Feedstock processing system 1050 is configured to receive and process recovered plastics 1201 (such as previously recovered or recycled plastics) and/or woody biomass 1202 in addition to other carbonaceous feedstock 1200, such as MSW. The recovered plastic 1201 may include without limitation a mixture of a polyethylene terephthalate (“PET”) plastic stream and a combined polyvinyl chloride (“PVC”) and high-density polyethylene (“HDPE”) and low-density polyethylene (“LDPE”) plastics stream. The woody biomass 1202 may include without limitation wood bio-mass, straw, switch grass, construction and demolition waste, and other like biomass materials. The plastic 1201 and woody biomass 1202 steams may be separately input into the system 1050 as shown in
The shredded material may be sent to a fractionation density separation unit 1150 where the light/medium fraction is separated from the heavy materials. The heavy materials may include dirt, glass, wet organics, and other inerts. Wet organics may include, for example, grass clippings and food waste. The inert material 996 may include any non-carbonaceous material. The inert material 996 may be sent to the residual material station 1290. After many of the inerts are removed, stream 994 is produced. The light/medium fraction (stream 994) may be sent to ferrous removal unit 1270 (also sometimes referred to as magnetic separators) and mixed with other streams for removal of ferrous material from streams 1248, 1257 and 1265, and then continue through the process steps as described above. Thus, in this embodiment additional carbonaceous waste feedstocks are processed to provide a processed feedstock 1325 that is then used to create F-T liquids and transportation fuels.
In general, the feedstock processing system 1060 may be configured to process feedstock, such as waste, to produce a processed feedstock having selective biogenic carbon content. The feedstock processing system 1060 provides flexible processing of feedstock to generate a processed feedstock tailored to a specific facility, application or need. The feedstock processing system 1060 of
As illustrated in
The four basic stages of anaerobic digestion to produce a biogas (methane) byproduct are: (1) hydrolysis of large particulate solids; (2) fermentation of large polymers into intermediates, i.e. acids and alcohols; (3) conversion of these acids and alcohols into carbon dioxide, hydrogen and small chain fatty acids, e.g. acetates; and (4) reduction of carbon dioxide, hydrogen and acetates into methane. Hydrolytic bacteria may be used as the digestive biomass to produce enzymes for the breakdown of all the various solids into smaller particles, then liquids releasing carbon dioxide and hydrogen into the fermentation liquor. The enzymes produced by the hydrolytic bacteria may cleave the large polymers of cellulose, protein, and fat.
Thus, in this embodiment the carbonaceous portion of the material in the residual material unit 1290 are processed to generate biogas (methane) which can be used as an energy source for process heaters or recycled back the gasification island to be reformed into syngas that is then used to create F-T liquids and transportation fuels. Methane generated in the landfill from the residual material is reduced and carbon recovery is maximized.
The creation of fuel from feedstocks of MSW, woody biomass, plastics and other carbonaceous feedstocks by the above-described system has significant advantages. It provides an energy efficient system with a very low emissions profile, reduces MSW and plastics and other materials entering landfills (thus dramatically reducing harmful methane gas emissions from landfills and mitigating the need for new or expanded landfills), reduces by displacement greenhouse gases associated with the use of petroleum and coal derived fuel products. The system increase the biogenic content of cellulosic-based fuels and, therefore, substantially increases the value of such fuels.
Exemplary embodiments have been described with reference to specific configurations. The foregoing description of specific embodiments and examples has been presented for the purpose of illustration and description only, and although the invention has been illustrated by certain of the preceding examples, it is not to be construed as being limited thereby.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/458,928 filed Jul. 1, 2019, entitled PROCESSES FOR PRODUCING HIGH BIOGENIC CONCENTRATION FISCHER-TROPSCH LIQUIDS DERIVED FROM MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTES (MSW) FEEDSTOCKS, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/682,368 filed Aug. 21, 2017, entitled PROCESSES FOR PRODUCING HIGH BIOGENIC CONCENTRATION FISCHER-TROPSCH LIQUIDS DERIVED FROM MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTES (MSW) FEEDSTOCKS now U.S. Pat. No. 10,344,232, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/077,782 filed Mar. 22, 2016, entitled PROCESSES FOR PRODUCING HIGH BIOGENIC CONCENTRATION FISCHER-TROPSCH LIQUIDS DERIVED FROM MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTES (MSW) FEEDSTOCKS now U.S. Pat. No. 9,738,579, which is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/842,729 filed Sep. 1, 2015, entitled PROCESSES FOR PRODUCING HIGH BIOGENIC CONCENTRATION FISCHER-TROPSCH LIQUIDS DERIVED FROM MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTES (MSW) FEEDSTOCK, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/799,522 filed Jul. 14, 2015, entitled PROCESSES FOR PRODUCING HIGH BIOGENIC CONCENTRATION FISCHER-TROPSCH LIQUIDS DERIVED FROM MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTES (MSW) FEEDSTOCK now Abandoned, which is a continuation in part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/138,635 filed Dec. 23, 2013, entitled GAS RECYCLE LOOPS IN PROCESS FOR CONVERTING MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE INTO ETHANOL now U.S. Pat. No. 9,458,073, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/023,505 filed Feb. 8, 2011, entitled PRODUCT RECYCLE LOOPS IN PROCESS FOR CONVERTING MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE INTO ETHANOL now U.S. Pat. No. 8,614,257, which claims benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/302,516 filed Feb. 8, 2010, entitled PROCESSES FOR CONVERTING MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE INTO ETHANOL, the entire disclosure of all these applications are hereby incorporated by reference herein. The application is further related to the following U.S. patent applications. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/023,497, filed Feb. 8, 2011, entitled “Processes For Recovering Waste Heat From Gasification Systems For Converting Municipal Solid Waste Into Ethanol,” which issued on Dec. 10, 2013 as U.S. Pat. No. 8,604,088 B2, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/023,510, filed Feb. 8, 2011, entitled “Gas Recycle Loops in Process For Converting Municipal Solid Waste Into Ethanol,” which issued on Dec. 10, 2013 as U.S. Pat. No. 8,604,089 B2. These applications are incorporated by reference hereinto.
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