US 7,547,418 B2
Fluidized-bed reactor system
John T. Johnson, Sterling Heights, Mich. (US); Daniel Dziedzic, Rochester Hills, Mich. (US); and Kenneth B. Gross, Troy, Mich. (US)
Assigned to GM Global Technology Operations, Inc., Detroit, Mich. (US)
Filed on Jan. 23, 2004, as Appl. No. 10/763,951.
Prior Publication US 2005/0163673 A1, Jul. 28, 2005
Int. Cl. B01J 8/18 (2006.01); F27B 15/00 (2006.01); F27B 15/08 (2006.01); B01D 53/34 (2006.01); F01N 3/00 (2006.01); F23J 11/00 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 422—139  [422/143; 422/147; 422/168] 29 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A fluidized-bed reactor system comprising:
a chamber defining a hollow interior region and having a lower surface, the lower surface defining a portion of the hollow interior region;
a first input for introducing a contaminated gas into the hollow interior region, the contaminated gas comprising at least one hydrocarbon contaminant;
a plurality of catalyst nanoparticles within the hollow interior region and located on the lower surface, wherein the catalyst nanoparticles have an average particle diameter of about 15 nm to about 25 nm, and wherein the catalyst nanoparticles are capable of catalyzing the break down of a contaminated gas to produce a decontaminated gas comprising carbon dioxide;
a reaction product comprising carbon dioxide in the hollow interior region; and
a fluidizing input, located downstream of the first input, for introducing a fluidizing material into the hollow interior region, said fluidizing input having an outlet directed towards the lower surface and between about 0° to 90° with respect to the lower surface of the chamber such that the fluidizing material fluidizes at least a portion of the plurality of catalyst nanoparticles located at the lower surface of the chamber to form a gaseous dispersion, and
the catalyst nanoparticles being selected from the group consisting of copper, ruthenium, osmium, platinum, silver, nickel, rhodium, palladium, gold, titanium dioxide, aluminum oxide, vanadium pentoxide, iron (III) oxide, zinc oxide, cadmium sulfide, zinc telluride, zirconium oxide, molybdenum disulfide, tin oxide, antimony tetraoxide, cesium dioxide, tungsten trioxide, niobium pentoxide and combinations thereof.