| 摘要 |
Materials such as biomass (e.g., plant biomass, animal biomass, and municipal waste biomass) and hydrocarbon-containing materials are processed to produce useful products, such as fuels. For example, systems are described that can use feedstock materials, such as cellulosic and/or lignocellulosic materials and/or starchy materials, or oil sands, oil shale, tar sands, bitumen, and coal to produce altered materials such as fuels (e.g., ethanol and/or butanol). The processing includes exposing the materials to an ion beam. |
| 主权项 |
1. A method of changing a molecular structure of a hydrocarbon-containing material, the method comprising:
producing an ion beam comprising ions having a first distribution of ion energies having a full width at half maximum of W; adjusting the energies of at least some of the ions based on a thickness of the hydrocarbon-containing material to produce an adjusted ion beam in which the ions have a second distribution of ion energies having a full width at half maximum of more than W; exposing substantially the entire thickness of the hydrocarbon-containing material to the adjusted ion beam to cause chain scission of the hydrocarbon-containing material without destroying the material; wherein the ion beams each have an energy of at least 10 MeV; and wherein the hydrocarbon-containing material is selected from the group consisting of oil sands, oil shale, tar sands, bitumen, and coal. |
