Self sustained system for sorbent production

Abstract

A self sustained system for sorbent production includes a thermal reactor for pyrolytic decomposing organic waste material in order to generate synthetic gases and sorbents; sorbent and gas separation unit; gas cleaning unit and gas turbine, supplying energy back to the system. Rice husk is fed continuously into a thermal reactor at a controlled feed rate. The plasma torch is used to heat the reactor to a sufficient temperature, as to convert the rice husk ‘feed’ material to a synthetic gas and solid carbon rich sorbent. Oxygen and steam are added in control quantities to optimize efficiency of production of synthetic gas composition and sorbent quality. The synthetic gas is directed through a heat exchanger, where heat is extracted for producing the process steam. Cooled synthetic gas is used to power a gas turbine as a fuel to produce electricity. In one embodiment the waste material is a rice husk. The sorbent(s) can be applied to oil/water separation process and can absorb oil 5 to 10 times its own weight. The sorbent(s) can be re-used after extracting absorbed oil. The sorbent is also effective for waste water cleaning and filtering heavy metals.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A self sustained method for sorbent production, comprising the steps of:
 generating high frequency plasma discharge in a gas mixture, said plasma discharge having a high temperature plasma jet and producing a flow of plasma upstream of said plasma discharge;   introducing organic waste material into the plasma jet at a rate conductive to heating to desired temperature of said material in said plasma discharge;   rapidly cooling the reaction products resulting from interaction of said organic waste material with said plasma stream;   separate solid product from gaseous product;   use gaseous product for power generation for the said plasma discharge.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein thermal plasma is generated by induction plasma torch. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein non-thermal plasma is generated by capacitive plasma torch 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein source for plasma gas is the portion of the generated combustion gas mixture. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said organic waste material is rice husk. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said organic waste material is carried into said plasma in a flow of carrier gas. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein said carrier gas is nitrogen gas. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said step of introducing comprises the step of introducing a cooled probe into said plasma stream and introducing said organic waste material through said probe. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein said step of introducing comprises the step of adjusting the position of said probe within said plasma stream thereby to maximize the production rate. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said step of rapidly cooling product reaction comprises cooling by exposure to cold surface 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said step of rapidly cooling product reaction comprises cooling by exposure of cold water. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said step of rapidly cooling product reaction comprises cooling by exposure to cold gas. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the plasma is generated in a cylindrical vessel comprising:
 (i) a plasma jet; 
 (ii) a cooling zone downstream of said plasma jet adapted to cool the products; 
 (iii) a container for collecting solid product from the vessel; and 
 (iv) a gas collector for collecting the gas product from vessel. 
 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the cooling zone comprises a jacketed section of said vessel in association with means for circulating cooling fluids through the jacketed section; 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising the step of cleaning the gas product 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the gas product is used as a fuel for gas electric turbine. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising the step of circulating cooling fluids through the jacketed section.