Abstract:
A system for disposing of municipal solid waste provides commercially-available equipment that is modified to initially remove identifiable unwanted components from the waste, and then chop the waste into small pieces of a size suitable for handling, separation and combustion. The moisture content of the waste is reduced in a closed system by passing dry air through the waste in a confined space to absorb moisture and produce moist air, which is then dehumidified via refrigeration equipment. The dehumidified air is recycled through the waste repeatedly through the closed system until the water content has reached the predetermined amount. The waste is stored in a bunker for later use or is immediately combusted in a two-step process by first gasifying the dried waste to produce combustible syngas and then immediately or later combusting the gas in a gas turbine or other engine to produce electricity that is partly used to power the process and partly sold commercially.
Abstract:
A system for disposing of municipal solid waste provides commercially-available equipment that is modified to initially remove identifiable unwanted components from the waste, and then chop the waste into small pieces of a size suitable for handling, separation and combustion. The moisture content of the waste is reduced in a closed system by passing dry air through the waste in a confined space to absorb moisture and produce moist air, which is then dehumidified via refrigeration equipment. The dehumidified air is recycled through the waste repeatedly through the closed system until the water content has reached the predetermined amount. The waste is stored in a bunker for later use or is immediately combusted in a two-step process by first gasifying the dried waste to produce combustible syngas and then immediately or later combusting the gas in a gas turbine or other engine to produce electricity that is partly used to power the process and partly sold commercially.
Abstract:
Coal ash, which also consists of fly ash, is a very fine granular solid residue obtained as a by-product of coal combustion. The invention relates to the surprising result that a fuel can be obtained from coal ash. The process involves a pneumatic separation of the coal ash at relatively low temperatures. The coal ash is separated into at least two size fractions. The size fractions obtained by the process of this invention include at least one with lower carbon and another containing increased levels of carbon in the range of 50% by weight and a heating value in the range of 4000 to 6000 Btu/lb.
Abstract:
In a process for influencing the properties of incineration residues from an incineration plant, in particular a waste incineration plant, the incineration is controlled sot that a sintering and/or fusing of the slag takes place as earl as in the incineration bed of the main incineration zone, and as yet unsintered or unfused incineration residues are separated off at the end of the incineration operation and fed back to the incineration operation.
Abstract:
A system for disposing of municipal solid waste 10) provides commercially-available equipment that is modified to initially remove identifiable unwanted components from the waste (12), and then chop the waste into small pieces (16) of a size suitable for handling and combustion. The moisture content of the waste is reduced in a closed system (20) by passing dry air through the waste in a confined space (30) to absorb moisture and produce moist air, which is then dehumidified via refrigeration equipment (34). The dehumidified air is recycled (30, 40) through the waste repeatedly through the closed system (20) until the water content has reached the predetermined amount. The waste is stored in a bunker (41) for later burning, or is immediately burned in a furnace (24) to produce heat that is used to produce steam (50), which drives a generator (26) to produce electricity (52) that is partly used to power the process and partly sold commercially.
Abstract:
The process for influencing the properties of incineration residues from an incineration plant, in particular a waste incineration plant, essentially consists in controlling the incineration in such a way that a sintering and/or fusing of the slag takes place as early as in the incineration bed of the main incineration zone, and that as yet unsintered or unfused incineration residues are separated off at the end of the incineration operation and fed back to the incineration operation.
Abstract:
This abstract describes a process for the complete oxidation of municipal refuse and certain hazardous materials. The facility to accommodate the process consists of a completely enclosed, rotating, cylindrical kiln wherein solids, liquids, and gaseous compounds are simultaneously oxidized. To supplement the burning process, natural gas will be injected into the kiln chamber through a regulatory apparatus. Within the oxidation chamber, temperatures of 3200 degrees F., plus, will be maintained by injecting a regulated flow of pure oxygen, as an oxidant, to ensure the complete oxidation of all materials. After suitable preparation, solids and liquids will be introduced into the kiln chamber through an enclosed, sealed, apparatus i.e., screw conveyor, to control refuse volumes. During the oxidation process, the refuse materials will be kept in suspension for an adequate dwell time by the tilted orientation and rotating operation of the kiln apparatus. Any liquid residue will form a liquid bed at the low end of the chamber while the gaseous residue will rise to the high end. As a result, the liquid residue will continuously exit the chamber through an enclosed trap apparatus, while the gaseous residue will continuously exit the chamber through an enclosed duct system. After exiting the chamber, the liquid residue will be cooled and restructured into environmentally safe products. After exiting the chamber, the gaseous residue will be compressed, cooled, and fractionated into environmentally safe products.
Abstract:
A system for remediating soil containing contaminants. The system comprises a rotary volatilizer, a thermal dust conductor, a soil cooler, a separator and an afterburner. The rotary volatilizer includes a rotatable, counterflow volatilizer drum with a drying zone, a heating zone and a burn zone. The burn zone of the volatilizer has an outer shell and a stainless steel inner liner supported by spring brackets within the outer shell. A separator is provided to receive exhaust gases from the volatilizer and the soil cooler and to remove dust from the exhaust gases. Dust from the separator and hot soil from the volatilizer is introduced into the thermal dust conductor. Hot gases from the thermal dust conductor are returned to the volatilizer to preheat combustion air for the volatilizer and to incinerate contaminants in the returned gases. Soil is transferred from the thermal dust conductor to the soil cooler, where water injection cools the remediated soil and adds moisture to the soil. The cool remediated soil is conveyed from the soil cooler to a load out hopper.
Abstract:
The preferred embodiment of the invention disclosed herein includes apparatus for and steps of separating glass, metal and other generally non-combustible material from refuse to provide a volume of generally combustible refuse, shredding this volume of combustible refuse into relatively small particles, mixing these particles with primary combustion air and conveying the resultant mixture of air and particles into a combustion chamber. The combustion chamber is preheated by auxiliary heating means to a temperature sufficient to cause the mixture to be self-igniting in the combustion chamber. Secondary combustion air is fed to the combustion chamber at spaced-apart points within the chamber for assuring a complete combustion process. This chamber is maintained under a negative pressure by a fan downstream and the combustion gases are thus caused to flow from the combustion chamber to an associated device utilizing the heat energy, for example, a steam boiler, and from the steam boiler, the gases are exhausted through a stack to the atmosphere. Oxygen measuring means is located on the discharge side of the boiler for measuring the amount of excess oxygen discharged to the atmosphere. In response to this measurement, the feed rate of the shredded particles of refuse is adjusted to maintain a substantially constant amount of excess oxygen in the combustion gases whereby the B.T.U. output is controlled.