Partial oxidation process

Claim 1

In a process for producing gaseous mixtures comprising H 2 , CO, CO 2 , entrained particulate carbon, and at least one material from the group consisting of H 2 O, N 2 , H 2 S, COS, CH 4 , Ar, and ash in a free-flow noncatalytic partial oxidation gas generator, the improvement employing a burner comprising a central conduit radially spaced from a concentric coaxial outer conduit and a free-flow coaxial annular passage therebetween, and changing from one reactant feedstream to another without shutting down or depressurizing the system comprising the steps of: (1) passing a first reactant stream of liquid hydrocarbonaceous fuel with or without mixture with a temperature moderator through the annular passage of said burner; wherein said burner comprises said central conduit coaxial with the central longitudinal axis of said burner and having a downstream exit orifice that discharges into a pre-mix zone, said central conduit providing a passage, said outer coaxial conduit providing said annular passage along the length of said central conduit between the inside diameter of said outer conduit and the outside diameter of said central conduit, an exit nozzle coaxial with and terminating said outer conduit at the dowstream end of said burner, comprising a converging frusto-conical rear portion and a right cylindrical front portion, an annular shaped face-cooling chamber surrounding said exit nozzle at the burner tip, and wherein the tip of said central conduit is retracted upstream from the face of said burner a distance of two or more times the minimum diameter of said outer conduit converging exit nozzle to provide a pre-mix zone comprising one or more cylindrically shaped communicating pre-mix chambers in tandem and coaxial with the central longitudinal axis of said burner; (2) simultaneously passing a separate reactant stream of free-oxygen containing gas with or without mixture with a temperature moderator through the central conduit in said burner; (3) mixing together said reactant streams from (1) and (2) in said pre-mix zone to produce a well-distributed mixture, and reacting said mixture by partial oxidation in the reaction zone of said gas generator at an autogenous temperature in the range of about 1700° to 3500° F., a pressure in the range of about 1 to 300 atmospheres, an atomic ratio of oxygen/carbon in the range of about 0.5 to 1.7, and a weight ratio H 2 O/fuel in the range of about 0.1 to 3.0; (4) phasing out of the fluid passage in which it is flowing in said burner said stream of liquid hydrocarbonaceous fuel with or without mixture with a temperature moderator, said phasing out being with a uniformly decreasing rate of flow that varies from maximum to 0 over a period of time in the range of about 1-3600 seconds; and simultaneously phasing a pumpable slurry stream of solid carbonaceous fuel in a liquid carrier in liquid phase and having a solids content in the range of about 30 to 75 wt. % in said burner at a-, uniformly increasing rate of flow that varies from 0 to maximum over the same period of time and mixing with the remaining portion of and replacing the phased out portion of said stream of liquid hydrocarbonaceous fuel with or without mixture with a temperature moderator flowing therein; and (5) adjusting up or down the flow rate of the reactant stream of free-oxygen containing gas with or without mixture with a temperature moderator passing through the burner and if necessary phasing in or out supplemental H 2 O into the reaction zone, so as to adjust the free oxygen/carbon atomic ratio and the weight ratio H 2 O/fuel in the reaction zone to design conditions for the partial oxidation reaction.

Claim 7

A method for controlling a partial oxidation process in which one reactant fuel stream is replaced by another without shutting down or depressurizing the system comprising: (1) separately sensing the flow rates of four feedstreams 1-4 respectively consisting of steam, stand-by fuel, principal fuel, and free-oxygen containing gas, and providing signals s, m, a, and b corresponding respectively to the actual flow rates of feedstreams 1-4 to a control unit; and wherein said principal fuel comprises a pumpable slurry feed stream of solid carbonaceous fuel in a liquid carrier in liquid phase and having a solids content in the range of about 30 to 75 wt. % and said standby fuel comprises a liquid hydrocarbonaceous fuel stream; (2) comparing said actual flow rate signals s, m, a, and b respectively with manual or automatically computed and inserted input signals representing the desired flow rate or set point for that moment for each of the four feedstreams, and providing a corresponding adjustment signal to a flow rate control means for controlling the flow rate of each feedstream 1-4 in accordance with the respective set point of each; (3) passing a feedstream of said principal fuel into the reaction zone of a free flow noncatalytic partial oxidation gas generator, by way of a free flow annular passage of a burner comprising a central conduit coaxial with the central longitudinal axis of said burner and having a downstream exit orifice that discharges into a premix zone, said central conduit providing passage, an outer coaxial conduit providing said free-flow annular passage along the length of said central conduit between the inside diameter of said outer conduit and the outside diameter of said central conduit, an exit nozzle terminating said outer conduit at the downstream end of said burner comprising a converging frusto-conical rear portion and a right cylindrical front portion which terminates at the downstream face of the burner, an annular shaped face-cooling chamber surrounding said exit nozzle at the burner tip, and wherein the tip of said central conduit is retracted upstream from the face of said burner a distance of two or more times the minimum diameter of said outer conduit converging exit nozzle to provide said pre-mix zone comprising one or more cylindrically shaped communicating pre-mix chambers in tandem and coaxial with the central longitudinal axis of said burner; (4) simultaneously passing a separate feedstream of free-oxygen containing gas with or without mixture with a separate feedstream of steam through the central conduit in said burner; (5) mixing together said reactant streams from (3) and (4) in said pre-mix zone to produce a well-distributed, mixture and reacting said mixture by partial oxidation in the reaction zone of said gas generator at an autogenous temperature in the range of about 1700° to 3500°, a pressure in the range of about 1 to 300 atmospheres, an atomic ratio of oxygen/carbon in the range of about 0.5 to 1.7, and a weight ratio H 2 O/fuel in the range of about 0.1 to 3.0;

Claim 8

A method for controlling a partial oxidation process in which one reactant fuel stream is replaced by another without shutting down or depressurizing the system comprising: (1) separately sensing the flow rates of four feedstreams 1-4 respectively consisting of steam, stand-by fuel, principal fuel, and free-oxygen containing gas, and providing signals s, m, a, and b corresponding respectively to the actual flow rates of feedstreams 1-4 to a control unit; and wherein said principal fuel comprises a pumpable slurry feed stream of solid carbonaceous fuel in a liquid carrier in liquid phase and having a solids content in the range of about 30 to 75 wt. % and said standby fuel comprises a liquid hydrocarbonaceous fuel stream; (2) comparing said actual flow rate signals s, m, a, and b respectively with manual or automatically computed and inserted input signals representing the desired flow rate or set point for that moment for each of the four feedstreams, and providing a corresponding adjustment signal to a flow rate control means for controlling the flow rate of each feedstream 1-4 in accordance with the respective set point of each; (3) passing a feedstream of said principal fuel into the reaction zone of a free flow noncatalytic partial oxidation gas generator, by way of a free flow annular passage of a burner comprising a central conduit coaxial with the central longitudinal axis of said burner and having a downstream exit orifice that discharges into a premix zone, said central conduit providing passage, an outer coaxial conduit providing said free-flow annular passage along the length of said central conduit between the inside diameter of said outer conduit and the outside diameter of said central conduit, an exit nozzle terminating said outer conduit at the downstream end of said burner comprising a converging frusto-conical rear portion and a right cylindrical front portion which terminates at the downstream face of the burner, an annular shaped face-cooling chamber surrounding said exit nozzle at the burner tip, and wherein the tip of said central conduit is retracted upstream from the face of said burner a distance of two or more times the minimum diameter of said outer conduit converging exit nozzle to provide said pre-mix zone comprising one or more cylindrically shaped communicating pre-mix chambers in tandem and coaxial with the central longitudinal axis of said burner; (4) simultaneously passing a separate feedstream of free-oxygen containing gas with or without mixture with a separate feedstream of steam through the central conduit in said burner; (5) mixing together said reactant streams from (3) and (4) in said pre-mix zone to produce a well-distributed, mixture and reacting said mixture by partial oxidation in the reaction zone of said gas generator at an autogenous temperature in the range of about 1700° to 3500°, a pressure in the range of about 1 to 300 atmospheres, an atomic ratio of oxygen/carbon in the range of about 0.5 to 1.7, and a weight ratio H 2 O/fuel in the range of about 0.1 to 3.0;