Abstract: Disclosed is an interplanetary rocket propulsion to Mars and the Moons of the nearer outer Planets by means of 6000° K temperature, 100 atmosphere pressure, power generation and propulsion systems that utilize a gas cooled nuclear reactor and metal powder combustion, in combination with water wherein dissociation into oxygen to react with certain metals to form on board retained metal oxides, and to heat the hydrogen from dissociated water as well as on-board liquid hydrogen that is seeded with an alkali metal for use in a linear, Faraday magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) generator that is coaxial with a MHD accelerator for propulsion, wherein water and probable metal sources on planetary bodies would provide rocket fueling by metal oxide reprocessing to metal and for manned permanent life support bases, and for search of high value minerals, gold, silver, aluminum, rare minerals, diamonds, for transport with their lesser gravity back to Earth.

Abstract: A propulsion system is disclosed that uses metal fuel particles heated to a range from 3000° K to 6000° K by reaction with oxygen in air inside a cyclone combustor to form metal oxides that are retained and removed from the combustor for re-conversion to metal, while nitrogen in the air is heated to the temperatures that on supersonic exhaust propels 50,000 ton monohull ships to from 50 to 100 knots. The ship can accelerate by electromagnetic force from a MHD generator-accelerator rendered electrically conducting by alkali metal seed injection into the gas. Also disclosed are 10 MW to 1000 MW Closed Cycle MHD power plants fired by natural gas into a top half of a falling pebble bed heat exchanger that transfers 2000° K to 3000° K heat to a noble or diatomic gas in a bottom half of the exchanger that on exit is seeded with an alkali metal rendering the gas conducting.

Abstract: Methods are provided for physically removing all the carbon dioxide from the combustion products of solid, liquid, and gaseous fossil fuels. The combustors operate without excess air to maximize the carbon dioxide at the exhaust, which is compressed with the nitrogen and mixed with pressurized water to dissolve the carbon dioxide in a chamber from which the nitrogen gas is removed. The solution is drained into a second lower pressure chamber from which the carbon dioxide re-evolves as a gas, which is then pressurized for sequestration in limestone formations as calcium bicarbonate. The water is recycled to repeat the separation process, and depressurization of the two gases recovers most of the compression energy.

Abstract: Systems, methods and processes teach by specific examples how the cost of sequestering carbon dioxide (CO2) can be totally offset and turned into profits during coal powered electricity generation from revenue and co-benefits. The process is provided whereby fly ash-carbon mixtures, or de-volatilized coal char, or anthracite coal culm is co-fired in an air-cooled, slagging combustor with limestone or similar slag fluxing materials converts the ash into cementitious slag with properties similar to ground granulated blast furnace slag.

Abstract: Disclosed is a gaseous fossil fuel fired, indirectly heated, Brayton closed cycle comprising an alkali metal seeded noble gases that is rendered non-equilibrium, electrically conducting in a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) electric power generator with zero emissions from the combustion products, including physical separation and sequestration of the carbon dioxide (CO2) what is emitted from the fossil fuel, with said cycle combined with a Rankine steam turbine bottoming cycle to compress the noble gas, while another optional new or existing Rankine steam cycle is placed in parallel and separate from the MHD cycle, and it is fired by the solid char remaining if the MHD cycle is fired with the devolatilized coal, and/or with solid coal culm, and/or unburned carbon in coal power plant waste ash, in order to achieve high efficiency at low capital, low operating, and low fuel costs.

Abstract: Methods by which new or used boilers or furnaces ranging from small industrial to the largest utility units that are designed for coal or oil or natural gas or shredded waste or shredded biomass firing can substantially improve their technical operation and sharply reduce their capital and operating costs by implementing component modifications and process steps that (a) minimize the adverse impacts of coal ash and slag on boiler surfaces and particulate emissions thereby also facilitating the use of oil or gas designed boilers for coal firing, (b) drastically reduce the loss of water used to transport coal in slurry form to power plants, (c) essentially eliminate the combined total nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur dioxide (SO2), mercury (Hg), trace metals, and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, (d) separate and permanently sequester carbon dioxide released during combustion and (e) improve the coal and solid fuel combustion efficiency.

Abstract: A method for increasing the nitrogen oxide emissions by either removing or modifying fuel rich nitrogen oxide (NOx) reduction processes thereby improving combustion efficiencies especially with low volatile low sulfur coals, and remove unburned carbon, reduce sulfur dioxide and reducing carbon dioxide emissions, while using post-primary combustion urea or ammonia injection with or without a reburn fuel NOx reducing process to restore NOx to regulated emission levels. Furthermore, adding lime or limestone to the urea or ammonia solution to further reduce SO2 and to increase the concentration of the carbon free fly ash to cementitious concentrations. Furthermore, by proper number and disposition of the injectors in the post combustion zone and by further water diluting the mixture, this NOx reduction process is effective at substantially higher gas temperatures than conventional Selective Non-Catalytic NOx Reduction and with no ammonia slip. This method significantly increases the profitability of power plants.

Abstract: Methods for reducing and eliminating carbon dioxide from the emissions of solid fuel fired power plants, particularly coal fired power plants, and to sequester the carbon dioxide, typically by using existing equipment. In some embodiments, the methods involve pyrolyzing the solid fuel to remove volatile matter and using the volatile matter to produce hydrogen. Additionally, the methods may involve burning the solid fuel or pyrolized solid fuel at very fuel rich stoichiometric conditions. Sequestration may include the production of a carbon dioxide-containing solution and the pumping of the solution into the ground, particularly in areas high in limestone.

Abstract: A method for reducing the cost of emission control by utilizing a combination of low cost, combustion and post-combustion processes to eliminate emissions of sulfur and nitrogen oxides, and trace metals, including mercury, and trace dioxins and furans. These processes are applied sequentially to the combustion flow train of an air-cooled, slagging combustor-boiler, and include two groups of process steps. One group is implemented in the combustor and the other in post combustion zones.

Abstract: A process having three steps utilized individually or in combination to reduce nitrogen oxides, NOx, emissions from gas turbines. One or more injectors disperse very fine fuel droplets to achieve rapid and complete combustion in zone one immediately downstream of the fuel injectors. The second step uses one or more injectors inserted into the combustor to disperse water droplets throughout zone two, immediately downstream of zone one, to lower the gas temperature and suppress formation of thermal NOx,. The third step uses one or more injectors to disperse aqueous droplets containing a dissolved NOx reducing agent throughout zone three, immediately downstream of zone two, and whose gas temperature favors the reduction of NOx. Alternatively, the dissolved NOx reducing agent can be mixed with a liquid fuel to convert zone three into slightly fuel rich conditions, enabling nitrogen oxide reduction at higher gas temperatures.

Abstract: A process having three steps utilized individually or in combination to reduce nitrogen oxides, NOx, emissions from gas turbines. One or more injectors disperse very fine fuel droplets to achieve rapid and complete combustion in zone one immediately downstream of the fuel injectors. The second step uses one or more injectors inserted into the combustor to disperse water droplets throughout zone two, immediately downstream of zone one, to lower the gas temperature and suppress formation of thermal NOx,. The third step uses one or more injectors to disperse aqueous droplets containing a dissolved NOx reducing agent throughout zone three, immediately downstream of zone two, and whose gas temperature favors the reduction of NOx. Alternatively, the dissolved NOx reducing agent can be mixed with a liquid fuel to convert zone three into slightly fuel rich conditions, enabling nitrogen oxide reduction at higher gas temperatures.

Abstract: Methods for reducing and eliminating carbon dioxide from the emissions of solid fuel fired power plants, particularly coal fired power plants, and to sequester the carbon dioxide, typically by using existing equipment. In some embodiments, the methods involve pyrolyzing the solid fuel to remove volatile matter and using the volatile matter to produce hydrogen. Additionally, the methods may involve burning the solid fuel or pyrolized solid fuel at very fuel rich stoichiometric conditions. Sequestration may include the production of a carbon dioxide-containing solution and the pumping of the solution into the ground, particularly in areas high in limestone.

Abstract: A method for reducing the cost of emission control by utilizing a combination of low cost, combustion and post-combustion processes to eliminate emissions of sulfur and nitrogen oxides, and trace metals, including mercury, and trace dioxins and furans. These processes are applied sequentially to the combustion flow train of an air-cooled, slagging combustor-boiler, and include two groups of process steps. One group is implemented in the combustor and the other in post combustion zones.

Abstract: A method for the combined reduction of sulfur dioxide, SO2, and nitrogen oxides, NOx, in the gas stream of a furnace from the combustion of fossil fuels is disclosed. In a narrow gas temperature zone in a furnace, NOx is converted to nitrogen by reaction with a reducing agent such as urea or ammonia with negligible residual ammonia and other reaction pollutants. In about this same temperature zone, SO2 will react with calcium oxide particles, derived from the calcination of lime, Ca(OH)2, or limestone, CaCO3, to form CaSO4 particles. A wide size distribution of aqueous droplets, containing dispersed lime or very fine limestone particles and dissolved urea or ammonia, is injected at the outer edge of the furnace gas zone at which the SO2 and NOx reduction reaction are effective.

Abstract: Nitrogen oxides, NOx, resulting from the excess air combustion of solid fuels in a combustor or burner in a furnace are reduced. By introducing sufficient additional fuel to the combustion gases in the furnace downstream of the primary combustion zone, a fuel rich gas zone is created in a temperature range that favors the conversion of NOx to nitrogen, N2. Further downstream sufficient additional air is added to complete the combustion of any unburned fuel. Alternatively, the fuel rich gas zone can be confined to a central region of the furnace. In that case, final combustion takes place when the fuel rich gas mixes with the untreated gas further downstream in the furnace. The preferred embodiment of this invention is to introduce the additional fuel in said downstream combustion zone as solid particles dispersed in aqueous droplets of varying size that vaporize throughout the furnace gas zone being treated. The dispersed solid fuel particles burn as they evolve from the droplets.

Abstract: A method for the combined reduction of sulfur dioxide, SO2, and nitrogen oxides, NOx, in the gas stream of a furnace from the combustion of fossil fuels is disclosed. In a narrow gas temperature zone in a furnace, NOx is converted to nitrogen by reaction with a reducing agent such as urea or ammonia with negligible residual ammonia and other reaction pollutants. In about this same temperature zone, SO2 will react with calcium oxide particles, derived from the calcination of lime, Ca(OH)2, or limestone, CaCO3, to form CaSO4 particles. A wide size distribution of aqueous droplets, containing dispersed lime or very fine limestone particles and dissolved urea or ammonia, is injected at the outer edge of the furnace gas zone at which the SO2 and NOx reduction reaction are effective.

Abstract: Method for reducing nitrogen oxides (NO.sub.x) in the gas stream from the combustion of fossil fuels is disclosed. In a narrow gas temperature zone, NO.sub.x is converted to nitrogen by reaction with urea or ammonia with negligible remaining ammonia and other reaction pollutants. Specially designed injectors are used to introduce air atomized water droplets containing dissolved urea or ammonia into the gaseous combustion products in a manner that widely disperses the droplets exclusively in the optimum reaction temperature zone. The injector operates in a manner that forms droplet of a size that results in their vaporization exclusively in this optimum NO.sub.x -urea/ammonia reaction temperature zone. Also disclosed is a design of a system to effectively accomplish this injection.

Abstract: A compact portable apparatus and method for heating gases for periods ranging from about one tenths of a second to several minutes to temperatures as high as 2700.degree. Celsius in 4 hrs. Graphite or metal oxide spherical pebbles which are placed in an externally thermally insulated cylindrical bed. The pebbles enclose and are heated by electrical resistive elements from which they are physically isolated. High heat storage density is achieved by designing the bed for high pressure loss operation and gas flow is in the downward direction. The bed is pressurized prior to initiating the gas flow with a quick acting valve or burst disc placed at the heater outlet. Typical applications are as a heat source for magnetohydrodynamic channels or wind tunnels. For magnetohydrodynamic applications a pulsed liquid seed metal injection method producing micrometer diameter liquid particles is disclosed.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for non-equilibrium MHD generation including a cyclone combustor, in which particulate metal is oxidized to form non-gaseous by-products. A low molecular weight working gas, such as hydrogen or helium, is energized by mixture thereof in said cyclone generator. Substantially non-gaseous oxidation by-products are removed by cyclonic action from the working fluid. The thus energized working fluid, with its swirling movement neutralized by the introduction of a further portion of working fluid, is then delivered through a nozzle to the MHD generator.

Abstract: Coal combustion and the capture of pollutants are optimized by a method which applies two mechanisms for sulphur capture, one in which pulverized coal particles suspended in the gas stream in the injection zone of the combustor are affected by reaction with a suspended sorbent, and another in which the particles are reentrained in the gas stream by a "sand storm" effect near the wall of the combustor. Use of the two mechanisms results, in commercial scale cyclone combustors, in 70 to 90% sulphur capture at economical Ca/S ratios. The method also minimizes emission of ash by removal from the pulverized coal fuel particles too small to be retained in the combustor and too large to be completely burned in the combustor, minimizes reevolution of sulphur compounds from slag by rapid and continuous removal of slag from the combustor, minimizes emission of NO.sub.x pollutants by maintaining a favorable overall fuel-rich stoichiometry.