RADIANT FOUNTAIN ARCHITECTURE CHEMICAL REACTOR

摘要

A chemical plant includes a radiant heat-driven chemical reactor having generally concentric reactor tubes with an inner tube and an outer tube located inside a cavity of a thermal receiver. Particles of biomass, or natural gas, and an entrainment gas are fed into the inner tube near a bottom of the tube. The biomass and the entrainment gas flow upward through the inner tube into an upper plenum, and then flow downward through an annular space between the inner tube and the outer tube. The concentric reactor tubes and the thermal receiver are configured to cooperate such that heat is radiantly transferred by primarily absorption and re-radiation to drive the biomass gasification reaction or natural gas reformation reaction of reactants flowing through the reactor tubes in the vertical sections of the reactor, and turbulent flow and mixing of the reactants occurs in the upper plenum part of the reactor.

主权项

1. A chemical plant, comprising:
a radiant heat-driven chemical reactor having one or more generally concentric reactor tubes with an interior reactor tube and one or more outer reactor tubes located inside a cavity of a thermal receiver, where the chemical reactor is configured to 1) gasify particles of biomass in a presence of steam (H2O) in a biomass gasification reaction to produce a low CO2 synthesis gas that includes hydrogen, carbon monoxide gas and less than 15% CO2 by total volume generated in the gasification reaction of the particles of biomass, 2) reform natural gas in a non-catalytic reformation reaction, and 3) any combination of both, using thermal energy from a radiant heat source, where a steam supply input into the radiant heat-driven chemical reactor is in fluid communication with a source of the steam, wherein the particles of biomass or the natural gas are fed into an inner tube near a bottom of the inner tube, wherein the one or more generally concentric reactor tubes and the thermal receiver are geometrically configured to cooperate such that heat is radiantly transferred to the particles of biomass in order to provide enough energy required for the 1) biomass gasification reaction of the particles of biomass, 2) non-catalytic reformation reaction of the natural gas, and 3) any combination of both, in order to drive that reaction primarily with radiant heat to produce the low CO2 synthesis gas; wherein the one or more generally concentric reactor tubes and the thermal receiver are geometrically configured to cooperate such that heat is radiantly transferred by primarily radiation absorption and re-radiation, as well as secondarily through convection and conduction heat transfer to the reacting particles to drive the biomass gasification reaction or to inert particles accompanying natural gas in the reformation reaction.