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US 12,460,277 B2Granted
Method, process, and system of using a mill to separate metals from fibrous feedstock
OwnerThomas A. Valerioinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for recovering metals from waste in which material is roughly or coarsely separated to leave a fibrous feedstock, the feedstock is comminuted with a mill (e.g., a ball mill) to liberate and separate the fibrous feedstock to obtain a mix of a metal fraction and residue, and the metals fraction and the residue are collected. There is a system employing the same to treat such materials.
Claims19
A method for recovering metals from a metal-based waste, comprising:
- shredding the waste and introducing material having fibrous material that may be a product of course or rough processing,
- roughly or coarsely separating the metals from the waste to leave a fibrous feedstock to leave a fibrous feedstock having less than about 5% by weight metal and at least about 50% by weight fibrous or plastic content, the fibrous feedstock derived from one or more “lights” fractions generated by an air aspirator, a heavy media plant, a rising current separation, or a water table concentrator
- comminuting the fibrous feedstock with a ball or rod mill to liberate and separate the fibrous feedstock to obtain a mix of a metal fraction and residue, and
- collecting the metals fraction and collecting the residue, wherein the metals are substantially all removed from the waste prior to the comminution, wherein the metals are substantially all removed from the waste prior to the comminution such that the fibrous feedstock has a metal content of less than about 5% by weight.
1 more element
A system for recovering metals from fibrous waste, comprising
- A source of the pre-processed fibrous feedstock having a metal content of less than 5% by weight, wherein materials having fibrous material are introduced as fibrous feedstock which may be a product of course or rough processing, and
- A mill in fluid connection with the source, wherein the mill liberates and separate the fibrous feedstock to obtain a mix of a metal fraction and residue.
A method of recovering metals from a fibrous feedstock containing embedded or entangled metals, the method comprising:
- receiving the fibrous feedstock from a coarse or rough separating process, wherein the fibrous feedstock is derived from at least one of an aspirated lights process or a wet rougher process, and the fibrous feedstock comprises fibrous organic material and a residual metal content;
- comminuting the fibrous feedstock in a mill selected from the group consisting of a ball mill, a rod mill, a tumbling mill, or a drum mill, thereby liberating the embedded or entangled metals from the fibrous material to produce a comminuted mixture;
- and separating the comminuted mixture into a metals fraction and a fibrous residue fraction.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.