System and method of waste management
View Patent ↗A system of waste management includes a steam gasification unit to convert municipal solid waste to a syngas. A molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) unit receives the syngas at an anode and an industrial exhaust gas at a cathode to generate electrical energy and separate a first carbon dioxide gas. An oxygen combustion unit receives remaining syngas from the anode and combusts the remaining syngas with oxygen to generate a heated gas stream. A steam Rankine cycle unit captures a first thermal energy from the heated gas stream. A carbon capture unit separates water and a second carbon dioxide gas from a resulting cooled gas stream. An electrolysis unit uses the electrical energy from the MCFC unit to split water into the oxygen gas for the oxygen combustion unit and a second hydrogen gas for the anode.
1 . A system of waste management, comprising:
a steam gasification unit configured to convert municipal solid waste and Palm waste to a syngas comprising a first hydrogen gas;
a molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) unit comprising an anode configured to receive the syngas from the steam gasification unit and a cathode configured to receive an industrial exhaust gas comprising a first carbon dioxide gas such that the MCFC unit generates an electrical energy and separates at least a portion of the first carbon dioxide gas from the industrial exhaust gas;
an oxygen combustion unit configured to receive a remaining portion of the syngas from the anode of the MCFC unit and combust the remaining portion of the syngas to generate a heated gas stream comprising water vapors and a second carbon dioxide gas;
a steam Rankine cycle unit configured to receive the heated gas stream from the oxygen combustion unit and capture a first thermal energy from the heated gas stream to generate a cooled gas stream;
a carbon capture unit configured to separate the water vapors and separate the second carbon dioxide gas from the cooled gas stream; and
an electrolysis unit configured to split water into an oxygen gas and a second hydrogen gas using the electrical energy from the MCFC unit,
wherein the oxygen combustion unit is configured to receive the oxygen gas from the electrolysis unit, and the anode of the MCFC unit is configured to receive the second hydrogen gas from the electrolysis unit.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the system includes a closed aqueous loop in which no external water is used other than internal water generated within the closed aqueous loop, and
the closed aqueous loop includes the steam gasification unit, the MCFC unit, the oxygen combustion unit, the steam Rankine cycle unit and the carbon capture unit.
3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein:
the steam Rankine cycle unit is configured to receive the water vapors from the carbon capture unit to produce a steam, and
the steam gasification unit is configured to receive the steam from the steam Rankine cycle unit to produce the syngas.
4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the steam Rankine cycle unit comprises:
one or more heat exchangers configured to receive the water vapors from the carbon capture unit and receive the heated gas stream for heat exchange to produce heated water vapors; and
a turbine configured to receive the heated water vapors to generate energy and produce the steam.
5 . The system of claim 2 , wherein:
H 2 O is generated by the MCFC unit and the oxygen combustion unit in the closed aqueous loop.
6 . The system of claim 2 , wherein:
H 2 O is consumed by the steam gasification unit.
7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the system is configured to receive no external water and use only internal water generated within the system.
8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the MCFC unit and the oxygen combustion unit form one integral structure that comprises the anode, the cathode, an electrolyte chamber and a combustion chamber, and
the electrolyte chamber and the combustion chamber share a common wall structure that physically separates the electrolyte chamber from the combustion chamber.
9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein:
an outlet of the anode is connected to a first inlet of the combustion chamber, and
the first inlet of the combustion chamber is configured to receive the remaining portion of the syngas from the anode and combust the remaining portion of the syngas in the combustion chamber.
10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein:
the common wall structure is configured for heat exchange between the electrolyte chamber and the combustion chamber.
11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein:
the combustion chamber further comprises a second inlet configured to receive the oxygen gas from the electrolysis unit and a gas valve configured to adjust a flow rate of the oxygen gas, and
the electrolyte chamber further comprises a temperature sensor configured to adjust the gas valve based on a temperature of the electrolyte chamber.
12 . The system of claim 8 , wherein:
the electrolyte chamber is surrounded by the combustion chamber by 360 degrees.
13 . The system of claim 8 , wherein:
the electrolyte chamber is positioned between the anode and the cathode.
14 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a supercritical carbon dioxide unit configured to receive the second carbon dioxide gas to form a working fluid to capture a second thermal energy from the cathode of the MCFC unit.
15 . The system of claim 14 , further comprising:
a boiler configured to receive the first thermal energy and the second thermal energy to generate a steam for the steam gasification unit.
16 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the carbon capture unit is configured to separate the second carbon dioxide gas by multi-stage compression and cooling.
17 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the syngas further comprises carbon monoxide, methane and carbon dioxide.
18 . The system of claim 1 , wherein:
the syngas comprises no nitrogen gas.
19 . A method of waste management, comprising:
inputting the municipal solid waste, the Palm waste and the industrial exhaust gas into the system of claim 1 .
20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein:
the inputting generates the electrical energy.