Systems and methods for an indirect radiation driven gasifier reactor and receiver configuration

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and system for a solar-driven chemical plant are disclosed. Some embodiments may include a solar thermal receiver to absorb concentrated solar energy from an array of heliostats and a solar-driven chemical reactor. This chemical reactor may have multiple reactor tubes, in which particles of biomass may be gasified in the presence of a carrier gas in a gasification reaction to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide products. High heat transfer rates of the walls and tubes may allow the particles of biomass to achieve a high enough temperature necessary for substantial tar destruction and complete gasification of greater than 90 percent of the biomass particles into reaction products including hydrogen and carbon monoxide gas in a very short residence time between a range of 0.01 and 5 seconds.

1 - 17 . (canceled) 
     
     
         18 . An apparatus, comprising:
 a thermal receiver having inner walls that form a cavity space inside the thermal receiver;   a chemical reactor that has one or more reactor tubes located inside the cavity space of the thermal receiver, where in the one or more reactor tubes a chemical reaction driven by radiant heat is configured to occur, wherein the chemical reaction includes one or more of biomass gasification, steam methane reforming, methane cracking, steam methane cracking to produce ethylene, metals refining, and CO2 or H2O splitting to be conducted in this chemical reactor using the radiant heat;   a source of inert particles that are inert to the chemical reaction that includes one or more of biomass gasification, steam methane reforming, methane cracking, steam methane cracking to produce ethylene, metals refining, and CO2 or H2O splitting to be conducted in this chemical reactor using the radiant heat, where the source of inert particles couples to the one or more feed lines to add the inert particles to the chemical reactor;   one or more feed lines coupled to the chemical reactor to add the inert particles for radiation absorption and re-radiate radiation to chemical reactants for the chemical reaction;   an indirect radiation driven geometry in the form of the cavity walls of the thermal receiver integrates and locates the chemical reactor inside the receiver, where the inner walls of the cavity of the thermal receiver and the one or more reactor tubes exchange energy primarily by radiation creating an oven effect, allowing for the one or more reactor tubes to achieve a fairly uniform temperature profile along a length of the reactor tubes; and   a heat source to heat the chemical reactor and to cause the indirect radiation driven geometry in the form of the cavity walls of the thermal receiver and the one or more reactor tubes to supply the radiant heat to drive the chemical reaction with the fairly uniform temperature profile along the length of the reactor tubes.   
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , wherein the chemical reaction is the biomass gasification, where biomass i) in particle form, ii) in non-particle form, or iii) both, is gasified in the presence of a carrier gas in an endothermic gasification reaction inside the one or more reactor tubes to at least produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide products;
 wherein the one or more reactor tubes serve the dual functions of 1) segregating a biomass gasification reaction environment from a thermal receiver environment and 2) transferring energy by radiation absorption and heat radiation, convection, and conduction to the reacting biomass to drive the endothermic gasification reaction of the biomass flowing through the one or more reactor tubes, and wherein high heat transfer rates of the one or more reactor tubes and the cavity walls allow the biomass to achieve a high enough temperature necessary for substantial tar destruction and gasification of greater than 90 percent of the biomass into reaction products including the hydrogen and carbon monoxide gas in a short residence time; and   wherein the cavity of the thermal receiver absorbs the energy from the heat source and re-emit radiation energy to cause energy transport by thermal radiation to generally convey that heat to the biomass via walls of the one or more reactor tubes.   
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 wherein the inner walls of the cavity of the thermal receiver are constructed of a high temperature-resistant refractory material including one or more of SiC, alumina plate, alumina/SiO2 fiber;   wherein the chemical reactor is selected from the group of i) a single reactor with multiple reactor tubes, ii) multiple reactors each being a single reactor tube, or iii) some other similar combination, where different chemical reactions may take place in different chemical reactor tubes, where in the case of multiple reactors all of the reactors are fed from a common lock hopper and share downstream quenching and gas clean up system components;   where a common control system is configured to control the chemical reactions occurring within the reactor tubes; where the control system is configured to control a feed rate of particles of biomass in the chemical reactor based on an amount of energy available for the chemical reactor as indicated by sensors including temperature sensors and/or light meters giving feedback to the control system, where the control system also uses a metering device of a feed system supplying particles of biomass in the chemical reactor.   
     
     
         21 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 where the chemical reactor is a fluidized bed reactor in which the chemical reactor design is configured to use turbulent flow of chemical reactants in a first of the one or more reactor tubes to sustain a desired chemical reaction; and   a first on-site fuel synthesis reactor that is geographically located on the same site as the chemical reactor and integrated to receive the hydrogen and carbon monoxide products from the gasification reaction, wherein the on-site fuel synthesis reactor has an input to receive the hydrogen and carbon monoxide products in a hydrocarbon fuel synthesis process performed in the on-site fuel synthesis reactor to create methanol, and a second fuel synthesis reactor connected downstream of the first fuel synthesis reactor and configured to produce liquid hydrocarbon fuels or chemicals, wherein the liquid hydrocarbon produced from the on-site fuel synthesis reactor is one or more of jet fuel, dimethyl ether (DME), gasoline, diesel, mixed alcohol, methanol, synthetic natural gas in liquid form, hydrocarbon chemicals, and heating oil.   
     
     
         22 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 a downdraft geometry to the one or more reactor tubes in which the biomass fall through the downdraft reactor design, where the downdraft permits disengagement of volatile alkali and tar components prior to cooling and remediation on the non-volatile ash, wherein the reactor tube walls and cavity walls of the receiver cooperate to have high heat transfer rates that allow the biomass particles to achieve tar destruction to less than 500 milligrams per normal cubic meter millimeter and complete gasification of greater than 90% of the biomass converted to reaction products.   
     
     
         23 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 one or more feed lines to the one or more reactor tubes, where each feed line supplies a reactor tube, and controls a dispersion pattern of the biomass particles into its corresponding reactor tube to maximize radiation absorption by the biomass particles when injected into the reactor tube based on a shape and width of an outlet of the feed line carrying the biomass particles to its corresponding reactor tube; and   the one or more feed lines supply the biomass in particle form having an average smallest dimension size between 50 microns (um) and 2000 um, and the small particle size and large surface area of the dispersed particles ensures there is a low temperature gradient within the particles, high mass transfer between the particles surface with water vapor in the entrainment gas, and efficient heat transfer to the reactant gases from the particles, which all combine to facilitate gasification of biomass particles.   
     
     
         24 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 an insulation layer around the cavity of the thermal receiver, where a thickness of the insulation layer is set to control conductive heat losses from the cavity, and where the one or more reactor tubes are located in the center of the cavity;   wherein the inner walls of the cavity at least partially encloses the one or more reactor tubes to act like an oven, spreading heat flux around through radiation and giving a much more even flux profile to the reactor tubes, both azimuthally and axially; and   wherein 1) the oven effect of the cavity along with 2) the biomass in particle form, which tend to average energy amongst themselves at their design volumetric loadings, combine to give the fairly uniform temperature profile both radially and along a substantial axial length of the one or more reactor tubes.   
     
     
         25 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 a material making up the inner walls of the cavity of the thermal receiver has mechanical and chemical properties to have very high emissivity of ε>0.8 or high reflectivity of ε<0.2, as well as high heat capacity (>200 J/kg-K) and low thermal conductivity (<1 W/m-K); and   a material making up the one or more reactor tubes possesses high emissivity (ε>0.8), high thermal conductivity (>1 W/m-K), moderate to high heat capacity (>150 J/kg-K), wherein the material making up the one or more reactor tubes is also resistant to the oxidizing air environment in the cavity of the thermal receiver.   
     
     
         26 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein a gasification reaction zone in each of the one or more tubes is an inner atmosphere of the tube, which is sealed from an environment present in the cavity; and
 wherein the one or more tubes have a substantial axial length, where the biomass particles are passed through the reaction zone of each reactor tube along the substantial axial length, and the biomass particle reactants are confined entirely within the one or more reactor tubes, wherein an arrangement of the cavity causes high flux (100-300 kW/m 2 ) radiant energy from the inner walls of the cavity and tubes to be directed through the reactor tubes to coincide with the gasification reaction zone of each reactor tube.   
     
     
         27 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , wherein the added inert particles are inert solid particles entrained with biomass particles or reactant gases into the one or more reactor tubes, wherein the indirect radiation driven geometry of the thermal receiver is configured as an indirect gasifier with a primary mode of heat transfer of radiation to the biomass particles and the inert solid particles entrained with biomass particles;
 wherein the inner wall of the cavity of the thermal receiver acts as a radiation distributor by absorbing thermal energy and radiating to the one or more reactor tubes, where the radiation is absorbed by the one or more reactor tubes, and the heat is transferred, by conduction to inner walls of the one or more reactor tubes, where it radiates to reacting particles; and   wherein a rapid gasification of biomass particles in the one or more reactor tubes produce a stable ash formation, complete amelioration of tar to less than 500 milligrams per normal cubic meter, and at least hydrogen and carbon monoxide products.   
     
     
         28 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , where a material and an indirect heating gasification design of the one or more reactor tubes allows for feedstock flexibility in the type of biomass making up the biomass in particle form, and obviates any need for an exothermic/endothermic reaction balancing in the chemical reactor design because the energy from a heat source drives the endothermic gasification reaction and a radiation-based heat transfer balancing makes the endothermic reaction gasification quite forgiving in terms of internal reaction balance, and thus, at least two or more different types of biomass materials can be used in the same one or more reactor tube geometry of the chemical reactor, obviating any need for a complete reengineering when a new type of biomass feedstock is used. 
     
     
         29 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , wherein the inert heat absorbing particles, including silica, Carbo HSP, or other proppants, are entrained along with the biomass particles, and where heat energy to drive the gasification reaction of the biomass particles or partially reacted gas comes from the following three sources 1) the inert heat absorbing particles, 2) the one or more reactor tube walls, and 3) the inner walls of the cavity;
 wherein an ash and particle storage mechanism is configured to accumulate the inert heat absorbing particles and ash remnants of the biomass from the gasification reaction that exit the chemical reactor; and   wherein a separator is configured to separate the inert heat absorbing particles and ash remnants from the gas products into the ash and particle storage mechanism.   
     
     
         30 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , further comprising:
 where two or more feed lines couple to the chemical reactor and each feed line controls a dispersion pattern of the biomass particles into the one or more reactor tubes;   where a quencher, gas clean up section is located between output of syngas including the hydrogen and carbon monoxide products from the chemical reactor and an on-site fuel synthesis reactor that is geographically located on the same site as the chemical reactor, where the on-site fuel synthesis reactor may be integrated to receive the hydrogen and carbon monoxide products from the gasification reaction and is configured to perform a hydrocarbon fuel synthesis process in the on-site fuel synthesis reactor to create a liquid hydrocarbon fuel; and   where the quench zone is included immediately downstream of the syngas including the hydrogen and carbon monoxide products from of the chemical reactor to immediately and rapidly cool at least the hydrogen and carbon monoxide reaction products, where the hydrogen and carbon monoxide reaction products are cooled to temperature below a level where the product hydrogen and carbon monoxide from the gasification reaction can react to form other compounds.   
     
     
         31 . The apparatus of  claim 18 , wherein the inner wall of the receiver cavity is made of an absorbing thermal energy material rather than a highly reflective material, where the inner wall of the cavity absorbs heat energy from the heat source and emits the heat energy as radiant heat to the one or more reactor tubes. 
     
     
         32 . The apparatus of  claim 19 , further including:
 an entrained-flow biomass feed system that has the one or more feed lines that are coupled to the chemical reactor and to supply the biomass into the chemical reactor;   where the entrained-flow biomass feed system further includes a lock hopper system where the biomass is loaded into the lock hopper system with a standard belt conveyer, where the lock hopper has an output, which then feeds the biomass across a pressure boundary into an entraining gas flow of the pressurized entrainment carrier gas for feeding via the one or more feed lines into the chemical reactor.   
     
     
         33 . A method of conducting a chemical reaction in a chemical reactor, comprising:
 driving the chemical reaction inside one or more reactor tubes located inside a cavity of a thermal receiver of the chemical reactor, where the chemical reaction includes one or more of biomass gasification, steam methane reforming, methane cracking, steam methane cracking to produce ethylene, metals refining, and CO2 or H2O splitting;   coupling one or more feed lines to the chemical reactor;   coupling a source of inert particles to the one or more feed lines;   supplying inert particles for radiation absorption and re-radiate radiation from the source of inert particles through the feed lines, where the inert particles are inert to the chemical reaction that includes one or more of biomass gasification, steam methane reforming, methane cracking, steam methane cracking to produce ethylene, metals refining, and CO2 or H2O splitting;   exchanging energy primarily by radiant heat between inner walls of the cavity of the thermal receiver and the one or more reactor tubes and creating an oven effect;   supplying heat to the chemical reactor from a heat source to cause an indirect radiation driven geometry in the form of the cavity walls of the thermal receiver and the one or more reactor tubes and to supply the radiant heat to drive the chemical reaction; and   achieving a fairly uniform temperature profile along a length of the reactor tubes.   
     
     
         34 . The method  claim 33 , further includes:
 gasifying biomass in a presence of a carrier gas in an endothermic gasification reaction inside the one or more reactor tubes to at least produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide products, where the biomass is i) in particle form, ii) in non-particle form, or iii) both in the chemical reaction;   segregating a biomass gasification reaction environment from a thermal receiver environment by driving the gasification inside the reactor tubes;   transferring energy by radiation absorption and heat radiation, convection, and conduction to the reacting biomass to drive the endothermic gasification reaction of the biomass flowing through the reactor tubes;   allowing the biomass to achieve a high enough temperature necessary for substantial tar destruction and gasification of greater than 90 percent of the biomass into reaction products including the hydrogen and carbon monoxide gas in a short residence time; and   absorbing and then re-emitting, by the inner wall of the receiver, the energy from the heat source to cause energy transport by thermal radiation to generally convey that heat to the biomass via the walls of the chemical reactors.   
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34 , further includes
 loading biomass into a lock hopper;   supplying the biomass with an entrained-flow biomass feed system that has the one or more feed lines that are coupled to the chemical reactor;   feeding the biomass across a pressure boundary into an entraining gas flow of pressurized entrainment carrier gas to the one or more feed lines of the entrained-flow biomass feed system;   adding inert heat absorbing particles to be entrained with biomass particles or reactant gases into the one or more reactor tubes;   absorbing thermal energy by the inner walls of the cavity of the thermal receiver and radiating heat to the one or more reactor tubes;   absorbing the radiated heat by the one or more reactor tubes;   transferring heat by conduction to inner walls of the one or more reactor tubes;   primarily transferring heat by radiation from the inner walls of the reactor tubes to the biomass particles and the inert solid particles entrained with biomass particles;   gasifying the biomass with a resultant stable ash formation, complete amelioration of tar to less than 500 milligrams per normal cubic meter, and producing hydrogen and carbon monoxide products; and   separating the inert heat absorbing particles and ash remnants from the gas products into an ash and particle storage mechanism.   
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 34 , further includes
 supplying the biomass in particle form having an average smallest dimension size between 50 microns (um) and 2000 um;   ensuring a low temperature gradient within the biomass in particle form by providing a small particle size and a large surface area of the dispersed particles; and   facilitating gasification of biomass in particle form.   
     
     
         37 . The method  claim 33 , further includes
 integrating an on-site fuel synthesis reactor with the chemical reactor, the on-site fuel synthesis reactor is geographically located on the same site as the chemical reactor;   receiving the hydrogen and carbon monoxide products of the gasification reaction by the on-site fuel synthesis reactor from the chemical reactor;   creating methanol, in a hydrocarbon fuel synthesis process performed in the on-site fuel synthesis reactor.