The portfolio is organized around six functional families. Each protects a piece of engineering that makes decentralized pyrolysis work on the kind of feedstock the Biogenic Refinery was built for — high-moisture, ash-rich, variable-energy biogenic streams that off-the-shelf woody-biomass systems were never designed to handle.
Family 01 · Catalytic emissions
Intelligently-controlled catalytic converter
What it protects. An intelligently-controlled catalytic converter that automatically monitors operating parameters — water-jacket temperature, catalytic input and output temperature, oxygen level, ambient temperature, ambient humidity, and barometric pressure — and automatically controls dampers, blowers, and electric heaters to keep the catalyst in its operating window.
Why this matters in the field. Most comparable systems use thermal oxidizers to meet emissions requirements. Thermal oxidizers add capital cost, footprint, and operating complexity that small-scale and decentralized deployment cannot absorb. The patented catalytic-converter architecture is designed to meet applicable emissions targets in a smaller integrated footprint.
Patents in this family
- US 8,812,162 — Intelligently-Controlled Catalytic Converter for Biofuel-Fired Boiler issued 19 Aug 2014 · expires 7 Mar 2032
- EU / EP 2,635,945 — Controller for Biofuel-Fired Boiler issued 18 Sep 2019 · expires 5 Nov 2031
- DE 60 2011 062 176.9 — Intelligently-Controlled Catalytic Converter issued 18 Sep 2019 · expires 5 Nov 2031
- IE 2,635,945 — Intelligently-Controlled Catalytic Converter issued 18 Sep 2019 register
- GB 2,635,945 — Intelligently-Controlled Catalytic Converter issued 18 Sep 2019
- CA 2,815,827 — Intelligently-Controlled Catalytic Converter issued 8 Jan 2019
- AU 2011323160 — Intelligently-Controlled Catalytic Converter issued 7 Jan 2016
Family 02 · Air-fuel control
Oxygen-level and air-to-fuel ratio controls
What it protects. Real-time control of air-to-fuel ratio as feedstock energy content varies — maintaining stable combustion and catalyst operation across high-moisture, variable feedstocks such as biosolids, manures, food residuals, and agricultural waste.
Why this matters in the field. Wet biogenic feedstocks vary continuously in moisture, ash, calorific value, and feed behavior. A system that cannot adapt its air-to-fuel ratio in real time will either smoke (insufficient air) or burn through inventory (excessive air). This family protects the controller architecture that makes stable operation possible across the actual feedstock conditions the platform encounters.
Patents in this family
- US 9,513,005 — Intelligent Oxygen Level Controller for Biofuel-Fired Burner issued 6 Dec 2016 · expires 25 Dec 2031
- US 10,139,166 — Fuel Feed and Air Feed Controller for Biofuel-Fired Furnace issued 27 Nov 2018 · expires 25 Oct 2036 register
- US 10,557,632 — Intelligent Oxygen Level Controller for Biofuel-Fired Burner issued 11 Feb 2020 · expires 27 May 2032 register
- EU / EP 3,044,513 — Fuel Feed and Air Feed Controller issued 27 Nov 2019 · expires 13 Sep 2034 register
- DE 60 2014 057 528.5 — Fuel Feed and Air Feed Controller issued 27 Nov 2019 · expires 13 Sep 2034
- IE 3,044,513 — Fuel Feed and Air Feed Controller issued 13 Sep 2019 · expires 13 Sep 2034 register
Family 03 · CHP / CHAB
Combined heat, power, and biochar
What it protects. The pathways for putting recovered thermal energy back to productive use — drying the next batch of feedstock upstream of the carbonizer, generating electricity through a Stirling, steam, or organic-Rankine-cycle engine, or feeding process heat to a co-located industrial load. Including the controller architecture that manages the carbonizer to retain biochar as a carbon-rich product while routing usable heat and recovered water.
Why this matters in the field. Several biochar carbon-removal methodologies require operators to document energy inputs, co-products, and claimed heat-recovery benefits when those benefits are part of the project accounting. The CHP / CHAB family protects the engineering that makes those documentation pathways operable at decentralized scale.
Patents in this family
- US 10,851,305 — Combined Heat, Power, and Biochar with Ventilator issued 1 Dec 2020 · expires 20 May 2036
- EU / EP 3,143,331 — Biochar Carbonizer issued 8 May 2019 register
- DE 60 2015 029 909.4 — Biochar Carbonizer issued 8 May 2019
- AT 3,143,331 — Biochar Carbonizer issued 8 May 2019 · expires 12 Mar 2035
Family 04 · Cyclone + catalysis
Combined catalytic converter and cyclonic separator
What it protects. An integrated assembly that combines particulate cyclonic separation with catalytic emissions handling in a single subsystem — simplifying maintenance, reducing parts count, and improving emissions performance on feedstocks that produce significant particulate load.
Why this matters in the field. Manures, biosolids, and many agricultural residues produce particulate that fouls separate catalysts when handled downstream of conventional cyclones. Integrating the cyclone and the catalyst reduces both maintenance burden and emissions excursion risk.
Patents in this family
- US 9,789,440 — Combined Catalytic Converter and Cyclonic Separator issued 17 Oct 2017 · expires 14 Jul 2036 register
- EU / EP 3,209,939 — Combined Catalytic Converter and Cyclonic Separator issued 29 Jul 2020
Family 05 · Clinker management
Clinker agitator control
What it protects. A microprocessor-based controller that manages combustion within a biofuel furnace processing inorganic-rich feedstock, with a clinker-agitator controller that signals a motorized agitator to prevent or clear glass-like clinker formation. The same controller manages fuel-feed rate, air-supply rate, and ash-removal rate in coordination.
Why this matters in the field. Sludges and manures are rich in inorganic minerals — silica, calcium, potassium, iron — that fuse into glass-like clinkers at pyrolysis temperatures. A clinkered pyrolyzer stops operating cold, and clearing one in the field is operator-intensive and revenue-losing work. The clinker-agitator control protects the engineering that keeps the system running across the kinds of feedstock that clinker-prone systems cannot handle at all.
Patents in this family
- US 10,648,739 — Controller with Clinker Agitator Control for Biofuel-Fired Furnace issued 12 May 2020 · expires 13 Sep 2034
Family 06 · Decentralized safety
Catalytic-converter safety devices
What it protects. Safety devices that prevent packaged catalytic converters from being expelled from exhaust stacks under abnormal operating conditions, or that reduce the velocity of such expulsion. Required-by-design safety for community-scale and decentralized deployment, where the system operates near people and structures rather than inside a controlled industrial perimeter.
Why this matters in the field. Decentralized pyrolysis is sited at farms, sanitation facilities, food-processing operators, and Arctic communities — not inside the controlled perimeters that utility-scale industrial pyrolysis assumes. The safety-device family protects the engineering that makes community-scale deployment defensible.
Patents in this family
- US 9,709,267 — Safety Device for Catalytic Converter issued 18 Jul 2017 · expires 23 Jul 2035
- US 10,001,276 — Safety Device for Catalytic Converter issued 19 Jun 2018 · expires 11 Jun 2033
- US 10,247,413 — Safety Device for Catalytic Converter issued 2 Apr 2019