Process for treating municipal solid waste
OwnerMark A. McMILLANinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A composite product characterized in that said product is produced and prepared by a continuous process comprising mixing water permeated municipal solid waste (MSW) with a municipal solid waste solidification reagent, wherein said solidification reagent initiates a polymerization reaction with the waste and the polymerization reaction forms a rigid polymer matrix therein. In addition, the polymer matrix also expands in volume during the polymerization reaction to form a foamed, environmentally stable, recycled composite product.
Claims14
A continuous method for reacting and converting municipal solid waste into a composite product comprising the steps of:
- supplying municipal solid waste comprising one or more thermoplastic polymers;
- physically removing metals and glass from said solid waste followed by reducing the particle size of said solid waste into a size that permits said particles to be permeated with water;
- permeating said reduced size particles with water to a level of less than 20% (vol), followed by continuous mixing, heating and chemically reacting said water permeated particles with a municipal solid waste solidification reagent at a temperature below 150° F. in which municipal solid waste solidification reagent initiates a chemical polymerization reaction with said water in said water saturated particles and solidifies said water permeated particles along with a corresponding increase in volume of about 20% or less to form foamed polyurethane structure having a density of 30 lbs./cu.ft. to 60 lbs./cu.ft;
- thereafter further heating the foamed polyurethane structure to a temperature of at least 220° F. to melt the one or more thermoplastic polymers in the foamed polyurethane structure whereby the one or more thermoplastic polymers provide a thermoplastic binder for the structure;
- and
- wherein the composite product is provided comprising the municipal solid waste in a range of 80-95% by weight of the product and having a density of greater than 60 lbs./cu.ft.
A continuous method for reacting and converting municipal solid waste into a composite product comprising the steps of:
- (a) providing municipal solid waste comprising one or more thermoplastic polymers;
- (b) substantially removing metal from said solid waste by physically removing said metal from said waste;
- (c) placing the waste in step (b) into a shredder which reduces the particle size so that said particles can be substantially permeated with water to a level of less than 10% (vol);
- (d) permeating the product of step (c) with water to a level of less than 10% (vol);
- (e) continuously mixing, heating and chemically reacting the waste of step (d) with a solidification reagent at a temperature below 150° F., which chemical reaction results in polymerization and solidification along with an increase in volume of about 20% or less to form a foamed polyurethane structure at a density of 30 lbs./cu.ft. to 60 lbs./cu.ft.;
- and
- (f) heating the foamed polyurethane structure of step (e) to a temperature of at least 220° F. to melt the one or more thermoplastic polymers whereby the one or more thermoplastic polymers provide a thermoplastic binder for the structure;
- and
- wherein the composite product is provided comprising the municipal solid waste in a range of 80-95% by weight of the product and having a density greater than 60 lbs./cu.ft.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.