Patent Application
20220293400
The present disclosure generally relates to a plasma reaction system with a plasma chamber and one or more ancillary reaction chambers.
Gas reactions may be affected within a reactor chamber of a gas reactor configured for inlet and outlet flow of gases. The inlet flow of gases may include one or more gas reactants, and the outlet flow may include one or more gas products generated based on the gas reactants included in the inlet flow. In some situations, gas reactions may be exothermic reactions that produce heat during the reaction process, while in other situations, the gas reactions may be endothermic reactions that use heat input to drive the reaction process. As such, the reactor chamber in which the gas reactions occur may reach high temperatures during operation of the gas reactor.
The subject matter claimed in the present disclosure is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one example technology area where some embodiments described in the present disclosure may be practiced.
A plasma system used to process or reform gas may include at least one waveguide, one or more gas inlets and outlets, and at least one plasma chamber that is typically cylindrical, transparent to electromagnetic waves, and impermeable to gas. Gas may be injected into the plasma chamber where it interacts with an energy source to form plasma. The amount of gas that can be processed in a plasma chamber may be dependent on the power of the energy source. Specifically, high flow rates above a critical value can cause the plasma in a plasma chamber to extinguish or operate in a suboptimal mode.
According to an aspect of an embodiment, a plasma reaction system may include a plasma chamber and an ancillary reaction chamber. The plasma chamber may include a plasma chamber inlet for introducing reactant gases into the plasma chamber, plasma chamber walls that form an interior space in which chemical reactions between the reactant gases may occur, a plasma generated within the plasma chamber, a waveguide for directing energy towards the plasma generated within the plasma chamber, and a plasma chamber outlet for carrying first outlet gases from the plasma chamber. The ancillary reaction chamber may include an ancillary reaction chamber inlet configured to obtain the first outlet gases from the plasma chamber, ancillary reaction chamber walls that form an interior space of the ancillary reaction chamber in which second chemical reactions between the outlet gases may occur, and an ancillary reaction chamber outlet for carrying second outlet gases from the ancillary reaction chamber.
The object and advantages of the embodiments will be realized and achieved at least by the elements, features, and combinations particularly pointed out in the claims. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are explanatory and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.
Example embodiments will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail through the accompanying drawings in which:
A plasma reaction system according to the present disclosure may allow for processing or reformation (i.e., rearrangement of a molecular structure of hydrocarbons included in a gas) of gas by injecting unreacted gas after a plasma chamber included in the plasma reaction system. The unreacted gas injected after the plasma chamber may react with “waste” residual energy contained in the processed stream from the plasma chamber. This is accomplished with one or more inlets designed to introduce the additional gas stream into the post-plasma chamber stream and effect mixing between the two gas streams. In cases where the reformation of the post-plasma stream is exothermic, the temperature of the mixed stream may be high enough for reformation to occur.
After mixing, an ancillary reaction chamber may provide sufficient residence time for reformation to occur in the mixed-gas stream. Additionally or alternatively, the ancillary reaction chamber may be recuperatively or externally cooled. The gas stream leaves the ancillary reaction chamber and flows into piping or tubing for further processing or storage of the gases.
Reference will now be made to the drawings to describe various aspects of example embodiments of the invention. It is to be understood that the drawings are diagrammatic and schematic representations of such example embodiments, and are not limiting of the present invention, nor are they necessarily drawn to scale.
More than one inlet may be oriented in a particular direction such that the forward vortex arrangement (i.e., corresponding to the first inlet 110) and/or the reverse vortex arrangement (i.e., corresponding to the second inlet 112) include multiple inlet ports. As illustrated in
One or more chamber walls 125 may enclose the plasma chamber 120 and demarcate an interior space of the plasma chamber 120 in which chemical reactions between gases flowing into the plasma chamber 120 may occur. In some embodiments, the chamber walls 125 may be opaque to gases, inert with respect to chemical reactions that occur within the plasma chamber 120, have a high melting temperature, and/or include a low coefficient of thermal expansion. For example, the chamber walls 125 may be composed of quartz, boron nitride, aluminum, ceramics, silicon carbide, tungsten, molybdenum, any other refractory materials, or a mixture thereof. Additionally or alternatively, the chamber walls 125 may be made of a radiofrequency-transparent material that allows energy directed by one or more waveguides 140 to feed a plasma 150 inside the plasma chamber 120. As such, energy from a microwave, electricity, or other source may be directed through the chamber walls 125 by the waveguides 140 to supply energy for the plasma 150 and the plasma chamber 120.
In these and other embodiments, an average temperature of the plasma chamber 120 may generally range from approximately 1,000 Kelvin (K) to approximately 3,500 K, while a peak temperature of the plasma 150 may reach approximately 50,000 K or higher. The temperature at particular locations within the plasma chamber 120 (e.g., in the center of the plasma chamber 120) may exceed the melting point of the chamber walls 125 and/or the waveguides 140 in some instances. Because the forward vortex arrangement and/or the reverse vortex arrangement of the gases 102 may provide an insulating effect, however, the chamber walls 125 and/or the waveguides 140 may not reach their respective melting points despite the temperature at particular locations of the plasma chamber 120 exceeding those melting points.
The gases 102 in the plasma chamber 120 may include reactant gases involved in chemical reactions relating to natural gas reformation, hydrocarbon generation, reactant combustion, or any other chemical reactions that may be facilitated in a high-temperature reaction environment provided by the plasma chamber 120 in which heat from the plasma 150 may provide sufficient energy to break molecular bonds and/or initiate particular chemical reactions. An outlet gas stream 160 may include chemical products formed by the chemical reactions that occur in the plasma chamber 120 and unreacted reactants included in the gases 102 that entered the plasma chamber 120.
The outlet gas stream 160 may be mixed with one or more ancillary reaction chamber gas flows 162, 164 to form an ancillary reaction chamber inlet flow 170. In some embodiments, the ancillary reaction chamber gas flows 162, 164 may include the same or similar gases as the gases 102 injected into the plasma chamber 120. Additionally or alternatively, the ancillary reaction chamber gas flows 162, 164 may include reactants that were not present in the gases 102 and/or materials that facilitate the occurrence of one or more chemical reactions in the ancillary reaction chamber 130. For example, waste gases and/or liquids from related chemical processes or other plasma reactors may be included in the ancillary reaction chamber gas flows 162, 164 to increase a waste-to-product reformation ratio of the waste gases and/or liquids. Further, waste-to-energy reformation may be improved by including waste in the ancillary reaction chamber gas flows 162, 164.
As another example, oxidizer gases, such as air, oxygen, nitric oxide, etc., may be included in the ancillary reaction chamber gas flows 162, 164 to drive particular chemical reactions and facilitate generation of particular chemical products. By including an ancillary reaction chamber 130 that obtains the outlet gas stream 160 and various other gases, a degree of reaction of one or more chemical reactants may be increased to increase the efficiency of the plasma reaction system 100. Additionally or alternatively, including the ancillary reaction chamber 130 in the plasma reaction system 100 may allow for a smaller plasma chamber 120 because the ancillary reaction chamber 130 may increase a conversion rate of chemical reactants. In these and other embodiments, the ancillary reaction chamber gas flows 162, 164 may include a total flowrate ranging from approximately 50% up to approximately 5000% of the flowrate of the outlet gas stream 160 exiting the plasma chamber 120 to provide gases and/or liquids for chemical reactions to take place in the ancillary reaction chamber 130.
The ancillary reaction chamber gas flows 162, 164 may be directed via one or more ancillary reaction chamber inlets 134, 136 to mix with the outlet gas stream 160 of the plasma chamber 120. In some embodiments, the ancillary reaction chamber inlets 134, 136 may be oriented at approximately 90° relative to the outlet gas stream 160 such that the ancillary reaction chamber gas flows 162, 164 are approximately perpendicular to the outlet gas stream 160. Additionally or alternatively, the ancillary reaction chamber inlets 134, 136 may be oriented at approximately at an angle ranging from approximately 90° (i.e., perpendicular) to approximately 180° (i.e., countercurrent) relative to the outlet gas stream 160. Additionally or alternatively, a number of ancillary reaction chamber inlets and/or an orientation of each ancillary reaction chamber inlet may differ from the two ancillary reaction chamber inlets 134, 136 and the two ancillary reaction chamber gas flows 162, 164 aimed at the same or similar orientations relative to the outlet gas stream 160 as illustrated in
The ancillary reaction chamber inlet flow 170 may be directed towards the ancillary reaction chamber 130 for further processing of one or more of the gases included in the ancillary reaction chamber inlet flow 170. In some embodiments, one or more walls 132 of the ancillary reaction chamber 130 may be made of a material that has a high thermal resistance and/or a low coefficient of thermal expansion. For example, the walls 132 may be made of carbon steel or other carbon composites, a nickel alloy, aerospace-grade aluminum, titanium, quartz, ceramics, tungsten, molybdenum, or any other material, including any refractory materials.
The gases included in the ancillary reaction chamber inlet flow 170 may react in the ancillary reaction chamber 130 to yield one or more chemical products. The chemical products yielded by the chemical reactions in the ancillary reaction chamber 130 may include the same chemical products yielded by chemical reactions that occurred in the plasma chamber 120. Additionally or alternatively, the chemical products formed in the ancillary reaction chamber 130 may include various chemicals that are not formed in the plasma chamber 120 based on different chemical reactions facilitated by materials included in the ancillary reaction chamber gas flows 162, 164 that were not present in the gases 102 that entered the plasma chamber 120.
In these and other embodiments, the chemical reactions occurring in the ancillary reaction chamber 130 may be facilitated by heat carried over from the plasma chamber 120. As such, the ancillary reaction chamber 130 may not include any plasma, and energy sources for heating the plasma 150 may not be directed towards the ancillary reaction chamber 130. The absence of plasma and/or directed energy sources may cause the ancillary reaction chamber 130 to operate at lower temperatures than the plasma chamber 120, and the ancillary reaction chamber 130 may include a larger volume and/or operate at a same or different pressure (e.g., higher or lower) than the plasma chamber 120 to facilitate the occurrence of the chemical reactions. Additionally or alternatively, the ancillary reaction chamber 130 may be made of a less heat-resistant material than the plasma chamber 120 because the ancillary reaction chamber 130 may operate at lower temperatures than the plasma chamber 120. For example, the plasma chamber 120 may be composed of an aerospace-grade aluminum, while the ancillary reaction chamber 130 may be composed of a molybdenum metal.
In some embodiments, the chemical products formed during chemical reactions occurring in the ancillary reaction chamber 130, any unreacted chemical reactants, and any other gases included in the ancillary reaction chamber 130 may be directed out of the ancillary reaction chamber 130 in an outlet gas flow 180. The outlet gas flow 180 may be sent to an ancillary reactor unit of the plasma reaction system 100, such as a scrubber, a pressure-swing adsorption unit, an amine unit, and/or a compressor.
Additionally or alternatively, the outlet gas flow 180 may be sent to a second-stage ancillary reaction chamber for further processing of the products, unreacted chemicals, and/or any other gases included in the outlet gas flow 180.
The second ancillary reaction chamber 250 may be connected to the first ancillary reaction chamber 230 by having an outlet flow 234 of the first ancillary reaction chamber 230 mix with one or more first ancillary reaction chamber gas flows 236 and feed into the second ancillary reaction chamber 250 as a second ancillary reaction inlet flow 252. In some embodiments, the second ancillary reaction chamber 250 may not be connected to a heat source, such as a plasma 212 used to heat the plasma chamber 210. As such, chemical reactions that occur in the second ancillary reaction chamber 250 between gases included in the second ancillary reaction chamber inlet flow 252 may be facilitated by heat from the first ancillary reaction chamber 230, which may be received by the second ancillary reaction chamber 250 along with the gases in the outlet flow 234 of the first ancillary reaction chamber 230.
In these and other embodiments, a temperature of the second ancillary reaction chamber 250 may be less than the temperature of the first ancillary reaction chamber 230. As such, the second ancillary reaction chamber 250 may be made of a material that is less heat resistive and/or include a greater coefficient of thermal expansion than a material used for the first ancillary reaction chamber 230 and/or the plasma chamber 210. Additionally or alternatively, the second ancillary reaction chamber 250 may include a greater volume and/or operate at a same or different pressure than the first ancillary reaction chamber 230 to facilitate chemical reactions that occur in the second ancillary reaction chamber 250.
In some embodiments, an outlet flow 254 of the second ancillary reaction chamber 250 may be sent to an ancillary reactor unit of the plasma reaction system 100, such as a scrubber, a pressure-swing adsorption unit, an amine unit, and/or a compressor, for further processing of the gases included in the outlet flow 254. The outlet flow 254 may be directed towards one or more additional ancillary reaction chambers, such as a third ancillary reaction chamber in series, a third and a fourth ancillary reaction chamber in series, etc. In these and other embodiments, an operating temperature of each subsequent ancillary reaction chamber in the series of ancillary reaction chambers may be less than the operating temperature of the previous ancillary reaction chamber in the series. As such, each subsequent ancillary reaction chamber may have a greater size and/or volume and/or a same or different pressure than the previous ancillary reaction chamber in the series.
In some embodiments, the outlet flow 254 of the second ancillary reaction chamber, the outlet flow 234 of the first ancillary reaction chamber 230, and/or an outlet flow 214 of the plasma chamber 210 may be directed towards one or more ancillary reaction chambers that are configured in parallel with respect to one another.
In these and other embodiments, ancillary reaction chambers configured in parallel may receive gases flowing at the same or similar flow rates with the same or similar compositions. Consequently, the ancillary reaction chambers configured in parallel may operate at the same or similar temperatures and include the same or similar volumes and/or operating pressures. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the ancillary reaction chambers configured in parallel in a particular serial stage may receive gases at a flow rate and/or composition different from the gases received by other ancillary reaction chambers in the same particular serial stage. For example, a first pipe directing gases to a first ancillary reaction chamber of a particular serial stage may include a greater diameter than a second pipe directing gases to a second ancillary reaction chamber of the particular serial stage such that the first ancillary reaction chamber receives a greater flowrate of gases than the second ancillary reaction chamber.
Terms used in the present disclosure and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as “open terms” (e.g., the term “including” should be interpreted as “including, but not limited to.”).
Additionally, if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid to understanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of the introductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing such introduced claim recitation to embodiments containing only one such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases “one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or “an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should be interpreted to mean “at least one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations.
In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is expressly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without other modifiers, means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” or “one or more of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in general such a construction is intended to include A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, or A, B, and C together, etc.
Further, any disjunctive word or phrase preceding two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both of the terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” should be understood to include the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”
All examples and conditional language recited in the present disclosure are intended for pedagogical objects to aid the reader in understanding the present disclosure and the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. Although embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail, various changes, substitutions, and alterations could be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Patent Application Ser. No. 63/160,300, filed on Mar. 12, 2021; the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63160300 | Mar 2021 | US |
