US 11,731,879 B2
Apparatus and method of producing activated carbon material
Lewis Dunnigan, Glenelg (AU); Philip Kwong, Paradise (AU); Jon Adam Marshall, Myrtle Bank (AU); and Benjamin Morton, Adelaide (SA)
Assigned to ByGen PTY LTD, Adelaide (AU)
Appl. No. 16/768,480
Filed by BYGEN PTY LTD, Adelaide (AU)
PCT Filed Nov. 28, 2018, PCT No. PCT/AU2018/051269
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date May 29, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/104382, PCT Pub. Date Jun. 6, 2019.
Claims priority of application No. 2017904838 (AU), filed on Nov. 30, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2020/0385273 A1, Dec. 10, 2020
Int. Cl. C01B 32/336 (2017.01); C01B 32/39 (2017.01); B01J 6/00 (2006.01); C10B 47/44 (2006.01); C10B 57/00 (2006.01); F27B 7/08 (2006.01); F27B 7/14 (2006.01); F27B 7/02 (2006.01)
CPC C01B 32/336 (2017.08) [B01J 6/008 (2013.01); C01B 32/39 (2017.08); C10B 47/44 (2013.01); C10B 57/005 (2013.01); F27B 7/08 (2013.01); F27B 7/14 (2013.01); F27B 2007/027 (2013.01)] 16 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
2. An apparatus for producing activated carbon material, the apparatus including:
a first reactor for pyrolytically producing a carbonised material, having:
an input port at a proximal end of the first reactor for receiving a feed material;
an output port at a distal end of the first reactor for outputting a carbonised material pyrolytically produced in the first reactor from the feed material, wherein the carbonised material drops under gravity through the output port to a collection vessel if the carbonised material is to be harvested or into a second reactor to produce an activated carbon material, or a combination of both; and
a volatile gas outlet for outputting volatile gas produced in the first reactor;
a first combustion chamber configured to receive at least part of the volatile gas routed from the volatile gas outlet of the first reactor via a volatile gas conduit, the first combustion chamber combusting the volatile gas therein to provide heat for the first reactor to pyrolytically produce the carbonised material and producing flue gas from the first combustion chamber, wherein the first combustion chamber has a flue gas outlet for outputting the flue gas produced in the first combustion chamber;
the second reactor for producing an activated carbon material, having:
an input port at a proximal end of the second reactor for receiving the carbonised material from the output port of the first reactor;
a flue gas inlet for receiving at least part of the flue gas routed from the first combustion chamber from flue gas outlet of the first reactor via a flue gas conduit;
an output port at a distal end of the second reactor for outputting the activated carbon material produced in the second reactor from the carbonised material using at least in part the flue gas in the second reactor, the flue gas conduit connecting the flue gas outlet of the first combustion chamber to the flue gas inlet of the second reactor,
wherein the second reactor is a rotary kiln heated to 400 to 500° C. via the residual heat in the flue gas, and an internal surface of the rotary kiln conveys the carbonised material under gravity at a designated conveying speed during rotation of the rotary kiln; and
a sensor sensing oxygen concentration in the second reactor,
wherein the flue gas conduit includes a configurable gas or liquid feed having a control valve to provide a designated oxygen content in the flue gas to produce the activated carbon material in the second reactor if the oxygen content in the sensed oxygen level content in the flue gas in the second reactor is not within a designated range, and
wherein the first combustion chamber substantially surrounds the first reactor to provide heat substantially evenly for the first reactor to pyrolytically produce the carbonised material.