Machine and methods for transforming biomass and/or waste plastics via supercritical water reaction
The machinery and methods disclosed herein are based on the use of a specialized extruder configured to continuously convey and plasticize/moltenize selected lignocellulosic biomass and/or waste plastic materials into a novel variable volume tubular reactor, wherein the plasticized/moltenized materi...
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Main Authors | , , |
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Format | Patent |
Language | English |
Published |
24.09.2019
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | The machinery and methods disclosed herein are based on the use of a specialized extruder configured to continuously convey and plasticize/moltenize selected lignocellulosic biomass and/or waste plastic materials into a novel variable volume tubular reactor, wherein the plasticized/moltenized material undergoes reaction with circumferentially injected supercritical water-thereby yielding valuable simple sugar solutions and/or liquid hydrocarbon mixtures (e.g., "neodiesel"), both of which are key chemical commodity products. The reaction time may be adjusted by changing the reactor volume. The machinery includes four zones: (1) a feedstock conveyance and plasticization/moltenization zone; (2) a steam generation and manifold distribution zone; (3) a central supercritical water reaction zone; and (4) a pressure let-down and reaction product separation zone. The machinery and methods minimize water usage-thereby enabling the economic utilization of abundant biomass and waste plastics as viable renewable feedstocks for subsequent conversion into alternative liquid transportation fuels and valuable green-chemical products. |
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Bibliography: | Application Number: US201815943691 |