Black liquor gasification process

Abstract From the Canadian patent

A process for recovering the energy and chemical content of an aqueous black liquor utilizing a reactor containing a drying zone located above a gasification zone. The reactor contains a bed of porous solid carbonaceous material in the gasification zone. Heat losses are restricted preferably from both zones, by the provision of a layer of insulating material about the reactor. An oxygen-containing gas is introduced into the gasification zone in an amount less than about 60% of that required for complete combustion of the black liquor such that there is produced partial combustion and gasification reactions sufficient to maintain the temperature at an upper surface of the bed in the range of …