US Patent:
20080280338, Nov 13, 2008
Inventors:
Kenneth R. Hall - College Station TX, US
Mark T. Holtzapple - College Station TX, US
Sergio C. Capareda - College Station TX, US
International Classification:
C12P 7/06
C12M 1/00
Abstract:
According to one embodiment, a biofuel processing system includes a biomass conversion system, a gasification reactor and/or a pyrolysis reactor, and a synthetic fuel creation system. The biomass conversion system uses a biological process to create a low-molecular-weight hydrocarbon stream from a biomass. The reactor generates heat and hydrogen using fresh biomass or undigested biomass from the biomass conversion system in which a portion of the heat is used by the biomass conversion system. The synthetic fuel creation system converts the low-molecular-weight hydrocarbon stream from the biomass conversion system and/or the reactor to liquefied fuel using another portion of heat from the reactor.