The Texas A&M University System

Precision Machine Products, Inc.

Other

Precision Measurement, Inc.

Byogy Renewables, Inc.

Kenneth R Hall

James C Holste

Gerald L Morrison

Rayford Gaines Anthony

Jerry A Bullin

Philip T Eubank

Aydin Akgerman

Mark Thomas Holtzapple

Donald L Parker

William H Clingman, Jr

Harold Dennis Spriggs

Sergio C Capareda

Mahmoud M El-Halwagi

A unique, integrated non-obvious pathway to convert biomass to biofuels using integration of chemical processes is described herein. The present invention is simple, direct, and provides for the shortest or minimum path between biomass and transportation fuels with alcohols as intermediates, while avoiding hydrogen use during processing. Furthermore, the present invention allows the manufacture of 'drop-in' substitutable fuels to be used as-is without modifications instead of conventional petroleum based fuels. The processing described herein is done under mild conditions, under relatively low pressures and temperatures, and under non-corrosive conditions obviating use of special equipment or materials. The novel integration heat and mass generated during the process increases overall process efficiency and lowers financial costs for processing and capital equipment, manages environmental impact, and enables a relatively high degree of yield by an enhanced usage of fresh water and thermal energy in comparison to the amount of biomass processed.

Integrated biofuel processing system

According to an embodiment, a biomass conversion subsystem produces methane and/or alcohol and residual biomass. A pyrolysis or a gasification subsystem is used to produce thermal energy and/or process gasses. The thermal energy may be stored thermal energy in the form of a pyrolysis oil. A fuel conversion subsystem produces liquid hydrocarbon fuels from the methane and/or alcohol using thermal energy and/or process gasses produced by the gasification or pyrolysis subsystem. Because the biomass production system integrates the residual products from biomass conversion and the residual thermal energy from pyrolysis or gasification, the overall efficiency of the integrated biomass production system is greatly enhanced.

Integrated biofuel production system

A process for converting natural gas to an olefin includes heating the gas to a selected range of temperature to convert a fraction of the gas stream to reactive hydrocarbons, primarily ethylene or acetylene, and reacting with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst to produce the olefin, usually ethylene. A portion of the incoming natural gas may be used to heat the remainder of the natural gas to the selected range of temperature. Hydrogen resulting from the reactions may be used to make electricity in a fuel cell. Alternatively, hydrogen may be burned to heat the natural gas to the selected range of temperature.

Method for converting natural gas to olefins

According to one embodiment of the invention, a computerized method for determining a flow rate of a fluid flowing through a conduit having an obstruction flow meter includes receiving a &bgr; ratio value indicative of a &bgr; ratio of the obstruction flow meter, receiving a pressure differential value indicative of a pressure differential across the obstruction flow meter, receiving a density value indicative of a density of the fluid, receiving a discharge coefficient formula for the obstruction flow meter, the discharge coefficient formula being a function of the &bgr; ratio of the obstruction flow meter and an Euler number for the fluid flowing through the conduit, and determining, by the computer, the flow rate based on the received &bgr; ratio value, the received pressure differential value, the received density value, and the received discharge coefficient formula. The determined flow rate may either be the volumetric flow rate or the mass flow rate. Alternatively, the density of the fluid may be determined by providing the flow rate of the fluid, the &bgr; ratio of the obstruction flow meter, the pressure differential value, and the discharge coefficient formula.

Method and system for determining flow rates and/or fluid density in single and multiple-phase flows utilizing discharge coefficient relationships

A process for converting natural gas to a liquid includes heating the gas to a selected range of temperature to convert a fraction of the gas stream to reactive hydrocarbons, primarily ethylene or acetylene, and reacting methane and the reactive hydrocarbons in the presence of an acidic catalyst to produce a liquid, predominantly naphtha or gasoline. A portion of the incoming natural gas may be used to heat the remainder of the natural gas to the selected range of temperature. Hydrogen resulting from the reactions may be used to make electricity in a fuel cell. Alternatively, hydrogen may be burned to heat the natural gas to the selected range of temperature.

Method for converting natural gas to liquid hydrocarbons

This invention is related to flow meter instrumentation. More particularly, the invention is related to obstruction flow meters which are used in series in a flow conduit to determine the volume flow rate of liquid and gas phases of fluid flowing within the conduit. Multiple flow meters including at least one obstruction type flow meter are positioned serially within a flow conduit such as a pipe. Mathematical equations are developed for each flow meter based upon measured quantities and phase flow rates within the liquid stream. These equations are then solved simultaneously to obtain the desired phase flow rates. Two flow meters are used to determine the gas and liquid flow rates. Alternately three flow meters are used to determine the flow rates of a gas and two liquid phases.

Multiple-phase flow meter

A process for converting natural gas to a liquid includes heating the gas to a selected range of temperature to convert a fraction of the gas stream to reactive hydrocarbons, primarily acetylene, and reacting methane and the reactive hydrocarbons in the presence of an acidic catalyst to produce a liquid, predominantly pentane. Hydrogen resulting from the reactions is used to heat the incoming natural gas, either with a hydrogen furnace or by electrical energy generated from the hydrogen. Little or no use of methane is required to supply energy for the process.

The focus of this paper is to introduce a novel method for calibrating natural gas flowmeters. This new method can accommodate very large flow rates and it avoids common problems associated with current techniques for meter proving. In this method, the amount of gas accumulated in a vessel of fixed volume is determined by measuring the change in capacitance of the vessel with respect to time. Because the accumulator has a fixed volume the problems inherent with the mechanical motions involved in volumetric provers such as bell provers, piston provers and ball provers are eliminated. Accurate measurements can also be made in larger vessels than would be feasible for gravimetric provers, especially for in situ calibrations. Along with avoiding the fundamental problems associated with current provers, initial studies indicate that accuracies of .+-.0.1% are possible, even for flow rates in large pipelines.

Method and apparatus for in situ calibration of gas flowmeters

A flow impedance device is provided for an obstruction flowmeter for determining the flow rate of a compressible or incompressible fluid in a conduit. The flowmeter preferably includes means for measuring the temperature and pressure of the fluid as well as the pressure differential across the flow impedance device along with further means for computing a flow rate from the measured pressures. The flow impedance device may include a plate having a plurality of elongated openings arranged in a predetermined pattern. The plate is installed generally transverse to fluid flow in the conduit to force the fluid to flow through the plurality of elongated openings.

Slotted orifice flowmeter

A flow impedance device is provided for an obstruction flowmeter for determining the flow rate of a compressible or incompressible fluid in a conduit. The flowmeter has means for measuring the temperature and pressure of the fluid as well as the pressure differential across the flow impedance device, and further means for computing a flow rate from the measured pressures. The flow impedance device includes a plate having a plurality of elongated openings arranged in a predetermined pattern. The plate is installed generally transversely in the conduit to force the fluid to flow through the plurality of elongated openings.

The present invention relates to a method of producing micropores having diameters of less than 20 nanometers in straight sides in silicon film. The silicon film produced by this process may be attached to a substrate material and used as a filter in molecular separation processes.

Method of producing a silicon film with micropores

The flowrate of a compressible gs is determined by measuring the pressure and temperature on each side of a flow impedance device, such as an orifice plate and computing the flowrate from the resulting pressure and temperature differentials according to a newly discovered orifice equation disclosed herein. The flowrate determined in accordance with the invention is more accurate than that calculated by using the standard orifice equation, which ignores the temperature differential. In addition, the calculation is independent of the type of flow impedance used and is not affected by degradation of the impedance device, such as the erosion of the orifice in orifice plates.

Method and apparatus for measuring the flowrate of compressible fluids

An improved proportional gas flow sampler having a combined arrangement of channeled plugs in a main flow line and a sample flow line for obtaining proportionally constant flow samples. The channels in the main line plug have relatively equivalent hydraulic diameters and a substantially greater average cross-sectional area than the channels in the sample line plug. The hydraulic diameter of the sample line plug channels are, however, within an order of magnitude of the hydraulic diameter of the main line plug channels and in certain configurations, relatively equivalent. The pressure drop across the main line and sample line plugs is held constant to impose an equivalent flow impedance, even with proportionally greater flow through the main line plug. In this manner, the arrangement extracts a fixed fraction of the flow into the sample line regardless of overall flow rate. Downstream of the plugs, a control valve is disposed which is responsive to a differential pressure transducer to provide the equal pressure drop as the sample flow is extracted. The sample flow rate typically is a very small percentage of the flow in the main line which, in the present invention, is independent of the relative cross-sectional areas of the channels in the plugs. An advantageously high split is therefore possible in a manner independent of flow rate.

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College Station, TX, United States of America

Kenneth R Hall