Drying of Organic Materials
AssigneesNicolas Enrique Giraldo-Wingler, Nuorganics LLC
InventorsNicolas Enrique Giraldo-Wingler, Eugenio Giraldo
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Abstract
This invention relates to a method and apparatus for drying organic material using the energy contained in the organic material to be dried to drive the drying process. The organic material could be sewage sludge, food scraps, manure, wood, bagasse etc. The latent heat of evaporation is recovered through the use of a heat pump mechanism. This allows for the retention of a majority of the heat within the system, allowing optimal drying conditions to be maintained throughout the drying process.
Claims19
A method for drying particulate organic biodegradable material comprising of the following steps:
- a. Blending said organic material with other materials to produce an organic mix that generates biological activity in the presence of oxygen.
- b. Putting said mix in contact with a stream of gas containing oxygen and allowing it to decompose biologically, generating heat.
- c. Circulating said gas stream across the decomposing blended mixture and incorporating water vapor and other gases.
- d. Conveying the vapor laden, gas stream to a separate condensing stage where the water vapor is condensed, reducing the moisture content of the gas stream and transferring the heat of condensation to a condensing surface and forming a dried gas stream.
- e. Removing the condensed liquid from the condensation stage
- f. Transferring at least a portion of the heat of condensation from the condensing surface to the same or different organic decomposing mix.
A system for drying organic material comprising:
- a. a mix of biologically decomposing moist organic matter that generates heat in the process of decomposition where at least a portion of such heat is used to evaporate water and other substances present in the mix
- b. a heat pump subsystem configured to recover the condensation energy of water vapor and to return at least a portion of this energy to the same or a different biologically reacting mix of organic matter that generated the water vapor
- c. a series of conduits and mechanical equipment to circulate a gas containing oxygen between said mix or other organic mix and the heat pump subsystem
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.