| 摘要 |
Reacting organic compounds with near-critical or supercritical aqueous phases can dramatically transform the organic compounds over short time periods (on the order of minutes to hours). The reductive process is conducted in anaerobic or near-anaerobic conditions. The process works with a wide range of organic compounds and biomass sources, including cellulose, chitin, starches, lipids, proteins, lignin, and whole cells. Disposal of waste biomass is currently expensive, and can create environmental problems. The present invention allows the conversion of waste lipids (for example) into a hydrocarbon mixture similar to a sweet crude petroleum, along with volatile alkane and alkene gases (C2 to C5). This conversion allows the generation of a burnable fuel, as well as the generation of feed streams for reforming and distillation. The environmental and other costs associated with fossil fuel extraction are reduced. Reactions in accordance with the present invention may be conducted in continuous, batch, or semi-batch mode. To date, we have used both batch and stop-flow reactors to transform biomass in near-critical (320-390° C., 200-420 bar) and supercritical water (400-500° C., 400-550 bar).
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