Plasma/ionic reactor for processing biosolids materials

Abstract

A method of processing a material comprising: receiving an input material to be processed within a reaction chamber, the input material comprising a biosolids material; energizing one or more sets of electrodes, each set of electrodes including an anode electrode and a cathode electrode, each anode electrode and cathode electrode having an electrode tip exposed to the reaction chamber; and creating an electrical arc between the anode electrode tip and the cathode electrode tip within the reaction chamber to subject at least some of the input material to electrical arcing, thereby reacting at least a portion of the biosolids material and forming a processed material comprising hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO).

1 . A method of processing a material, the method comprising:
 receiving an input material to be processed within a reaction chamber, the input material comprising a biosolids material;   energizing one or more sets of electrodes, each set of electrodes including an anode electrode and a cathode electrode, each anode electrode and cathode electrode having an electrode tip exposed to the reaction chamber; and   creating an electrical arc between the anode electrode tip and the cathode electrode tip within the reaction chamber to subject at least some of the input material to electrical arcing, thereby reacting at least a portion of the biosolids material and forming a processed material comprising hydrogen (H 2 ) and carbon monoxide (CO).   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 creating a plasma in a plasma torch; and   injecting the plasma from the plasma torch into the reaction chamber to expose at least some of the input material to the plasma from the plasma torch when forming the processed material.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the biosolids material is in the form of dried biosolids particles. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the biosolids particles have an average particle size in a range of about 0.3 mm to about 4.0 mm. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the biosolids particles have an average particle size in a range of about 0.5 mm to about 2.0 mm. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising drying the biosolids material prior to feeding the input material to the reaction chamber. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the biosolids material has a water content of not more than 20 wt. %. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising: feeding the processed material to a water-gas shift reactor. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the biosolids material has a water content of at least 20 wt. %. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the processed material is not further treated in a water-gas shift reactor. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the biosolids material comprises undigested biosolids. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the biosolids material comprises digested biosolids. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the biosolids material comprises:
 5 wt. % to 95 wt. % digested biosolids relative to total biosolids; and   5 wt. % to 95 wt. % undigested biosolids relative to total biosolids.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising feeding a working gas to the reaction chamber. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising feeding a reactive gas to the reaction chamber. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the reactive gas comprises one or more oxygen atoms. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the reactive gas is selected from the group consisting of air, oxygen gas, water, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the reactive gas comprises oxygen gas. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the reactive gas comprises water. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the reactive gas comprises carbon dioxide. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the reactive gas comprises one or more nitrogen oxides. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the reactive gas comprises air. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising operating the reaction chamber in an oxidative process mode. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising operating the reaction chamber in a pyrolysis process mode. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising supplying power to the electrodes in an amount in a range of 0.5 (kW·hr)/kg to 4 (kW·hr)/kg relative to biosolids feed rate. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein creating the electrical arc comprises forming a localized plasma in the reaction chamber having a temperature of at least 3000° C. to which the input material is subjected. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein creating the electrical arc comprises operating the reaction chamber at about atmospheric pressure. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the processed material comprises a gas phase containing 25-60% hydrogen gas (H 2 ) and 20-50% carbon monoxide (CO). 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the gas phase further comprises at least one of water (H 2 O) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in an amount up to 2%. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein the gas phase further comprises nitrogen (N 2 ) in an amount that is at least 80% of the gas phase that is other than H 2 , CO, CO 2 , and H 2 O. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 28 , wherein a ratio of hydrogen gas:carbon monoxide in the gas phase is in a range of 2:1 to 1:1. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising reacting the biosolids material with a carbon conversion of at least 40%. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising reacting the biosolids material with a carbon conversion of at least 90%. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the processed material comprises nanoparticles selected from the group consisting of nanosized ash, carbon nanoparticles, and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the nanoparticles have an average particle size in a range of about 5 nm to about 100 nm. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the processed material is free from tar. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising processing the material in a continuous process operation. 
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 1 , comprising processing the material in a batch process operation.