Method and apparatus for generating a low tar, renewable fuel gas from biomass and using it in other energy conversion devices, many of which were designed for use with gaseous and liquid fossil fuels. An automated, downdraft gasifier incorporates extensive air injection into the char bed to maintain the conditions that promote the destruction of residual tars. The resulting fuel gas and entrained char and ash are cooled in a special heat exchanger, and then continuously cleaned in a filter prior to usage in standalone as well as networked power systems.

Method and apparatus for automated, modular, biomass power generation

An apparatus pulverizes material composed of wet or dry discrete objects into relatively smaller particles with shock waves created by flowing the material through a housing having alternating rotors and orifice plates. The housing includes a first end having a feed chute for introducing the material into the housing, a second end having an opening for removing the smaller particles, and internal sides meeting in corners, which extend longitudinally between the first and second ends. A rotatable shaft extends substantially along a longitudinal central axis of the housing. Rotors each include a hub coupled to the shaft for rotation therewith, a substantially polygonal-shaped rotor plate centrally fixed to the hub and having apices, and a plurality of vanes each vanes extending approximately radially inward on a side of the rotor plate from an apex. Each orifice plate extends inwardly from the internal sides of the housing to a central aperture which provides an orifice around the shaft. Circumferentially spaced members are located proximate the rotors, wherein the members extend inwardly from the corners of the housing toward the rotors.

Apparatus and methods for pulverizing materials into small particles

A pulverized fuel delivery system for a blast furnace in which pulverized coal is delivered in dense phase fluidized form into the blast furnace from gas pressurized tanks that are placed in communication, one at a time, in cyclical sequence with a pneumatic transport means. The tank gas pressure is regulated in accordance with the blast furnace wind rate to control the weight flow rate of pulverized coal into the furnace and the transport gas flow rate is regulated in accordance with the fuel weight flow rate to maintain a prescribed transport gas flow rate per pound of coal delivered to the furnace.

Pulverized fuel delivery system for a blast furnace

A process of purifying gases produced by a gasification of fossil fuels wherein the gas is cooled and scrubbed under superatmospheric pressures at normal temperatures while the raw gas, at a temperature of 150°-170° C, is indirectly cooled to ambient temperatures, the condensible hydrocarbons are separated and removed, the gas is scrubbed with water to remove ammonia in a first scrubbing stage in which the rate of water addition is controlled to be just sufficient to remove the ammonia, the gas is then scrubbed with a high-boiling organic solvent which is miscible with water and to which sulfur is added, the gas is subsequently scrubbed with the same solvent in a third scrubbing stage in which the water content of the solvent is kept at 5-30 mole percent H2 O and in which H2 S and COS are entirely removed from the gas, and the scrubbing agents from the second and third scrubbing stages are separately regenerated and recycled to the second and third scrubbing stages. The scrubbing agent used in the second scrubbing stage is flashed approximately to atmospheric pressures, adding water, heating the scrubbing agent to the boiling temperature but not in excess of 170° C, treating the scrubbing agent in a stripping column with water vapor or stripping gas to remove liquid impurities, condensing the mixed vapors, isolating the condensates by phase separation, and feeding part of the aqueous phase as a reflux to the upper portion of the stripping column while the stripped scrubbing agent is cooled and is fed back to the top of the second scrubbing stage.

Process of purifying gases produced by the gasification of solid or liquid fossil fuels

Crush-resistant, metallized agglomerates, containing substantially no zinc or lead and capable of being charged to various steel-making furnaces, are produced from dust recovered from the fumes of a basic oxygen or open hearth steel-making furnace by forming a moistened mixture of (a) the dust (b) finely divided solid carbonaceous material containing sufficient carbon to make the total equivalent fixed carbon content of the mixture about 5 to about 25 weight percent, based on the dry weight of the mixture, (e) a bonding agent in the range of about 5 to about 25 weight percent, based on the dry weight of the mixture, and (d) one or more additional strengthening agents in minor amounts; forming the resultant mixture into green agglomerates; hydrothermally hardening partially dried or dried agglomerates at a temperature substantially below the combustion or decomposition temperature of the carbonaceous material; and then heating the hardened agglomerates at an elevated temperature for a sufficient time to reduce the iron oxide to metallic iron and to reduce and volatilize the zinc, lead and other reducible impurities therein.

Treatment of zinc rich steel mill dusts for reuse in steel making processes

Explosive shattering method

Apparatus for retorting oil shale having a central axial hollow column

A process and apparatus for producing pellets of iron from finely divided iron oxide materials is provided in which the process includes: (1) admixing the finely divided iron oxide materials with alkaline earth metal oxides or hydroxides; (2) forming pellets of the admixture; (3) simultaneously drying and carbonating the pellets; and, (4) reducing the iron oxide materials to iron. Moreover, to produce steel from the finely divided iron oxide materials, the reduced pellets are immediately charged into a conventional steelmaking furnace.

Elwood V Schulte

Papers

Explosive shattering method

Apparatus for retorting oil shale having a central axial hollow column

Production of metal pellets from metallic oxides

Explosive shattering method and apparatus

Method and apparatus for transporting particulate material to a metallurgical furnace