Process and apparatus for the destructive distillation of waste material

A process for destructive distillation at atmospheric pressure of waste material containing organic matter and recovery of useful products therefrom, comprising the steps of

• shredding the waste material into pieces of predetermined size, for efficient pyrolysis,
• moving said shredded waste material along a sealed loading conveyor,
• preheating said shredded material in said loading conveyor to increase the efficiency of the pyrolysis of said material in said sealed distillator compartment,
• controlling the temperature of said shredded material during said preheating below the boiling point of water to prevent vaporization of water outside said distillator compartment,
• distributing said shredded material after delivery by said loading conveyor to a uniform predetermined depth on a generally horizontal first conveyor for movement through said distillator compartment,
• moving said shredded material on said first conveyor within said distillator compartment,
• dumping said shredded material on to at least a second generally horizontal conveyor superposed below said first conveyor after passing along said first conveyor to agitate said shredded material for more complete pyrolysis,
• uniformly heating along the path of each of said plurality of generally horizontal conveyors vertically arranged to move said waste material through said distillator compartment,
• controlling the temperature at about 650.degree. F. at said first conveyor vertical level and at selectively increasing temperatures to about 1000.degree. F. at a lowest vertical level,
• pyrolyzing said continuously moving materials for evolving volatile gases and vapors from said organic matter in said waste material,
• depositing the carbonaceous material remaining after pyrolysis in said distillator compartment for removal,
• spraying said deposited carbonaceous material with water to further gasify said carbonaceous material and increase the quantity of fuel gases evolved,
• continuously discharging the solid residue of said pyrolyzed organic waste materials from said sealed distillator compartment,
• continuously removing said evolved gases and vapors from said sealed distillator compartment,
• maintaining said distillator and said evolved gases at atmospheric pressure,
• recycling at least a portion of said condensed petroleum to spray on said shredded material while on said loading conveyor to increase the amount of fuel gas which evolves when said waste material and said recycled petroleum undergo pyrolysis in said sealed distillator compartment,
• cooling said removed gases for condensing a portion of said gases into liquid petroleum products and water,
• recovering said condensed water and liquid petroleum products,
• separating any remaining liquid and particulate matter from the remaining gases, and
• compressing said remaining gas to a volume suitable for storage and delivery for consumption.

Apparatus for destructive distillation of waste materials containing organic matter, comprising

• grinding means for shredding the organic waste materials into pieces of predetermined size,
• a thermally insulated and atmospherically sealed distillator compartment for pyrolyzing said materials,
• loading means for continuously supplying said materials to said sealed distillator compartment at a predetermined rate while maintaining said atmospheric seal of said distillator compartment,
• distributing means for distributing said materials on a conveyor means to a predetermined uniform depth for effecting maximum heat transfer during movement of said materials through said distillator compartment for pyrolyzing said materials in said distillator compartment and evolving volatile gases and vapors,
• conveyor means disposed in said distillator compartment for receiving and continuously moving said materials through said distillator compartment at a predetermined rate and generally arranged for horizontal movement at a plurality of vertical levels within said distillator compartment,
• heating means for controllably heating and maintaining along the path of each of said horizontal conveyors to maintain a preselected temperature at each of said vertical levels sufficient to pyrolyze said materials,
• discharge means for continuously discharging the solid residue of said pyrolyzed material from said sealed distillator compartment while maintaining said atmospheric seal of said distillator compartment,
• separating means receiving the output from said discharge means for recovering charcoal and other carbonaceous products, ferrous metals and other aggregate from said solid residue,
• pipe means for collecting the gases evolving from said waste material during pyrolysis in said sealed distillator compartment, and
• distillation means connected with said pipe means for separating said evolved gases into useful constituents.

In a system for continuous destructive distillation of waste material by pyrolysis, including a continuous shredder and distillator loading conveyor, a continuous discharge auger, means for recovering valuable products from a solid residue and a distillation system for collection and distillation of evolved gases into useful constituents, an improved pyrolysis chamber, wherein the improvement comprises

• a thermally insulated and atmospherically sealed distillator compartment, a plurality of generally horizontal chain-link conveyors arranged in superposed vertical levels within said distillator compartment for carrying said agitating shredded waste material,
• distributing means for distributing said materials on said chain-link conveyor to a predetermined uniform depth for effecting maximum heat transfer during movement of said materials through said compartment;
• means for applying heat adjacent each of said conveyors at preselected vertical levels within said distillator compartment,
• means for sensing the temperature at each of said preselected vertical levels, and
• control means responsive to said temperature sensing means and actuating conveyor heat distribution means at each vertical level to maintain the temperature at said vertical level within preselected temperature ranges to obtain maximum pyrolysis of said waste material.