Apparatus for pyroprocessing and cooling particles

Apparatus for pyroprocessing of particulate matter comprising a rotary kiln having a discharge end for discharge of particles larger than a preselected size and a circumferentially spaced series of openings for discharge of particles of size smaller than said preselected size through the kiln shell located near said discharge end, some of said material discharge openings being linearly offset from others in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation of said kiln to effect a desired pattern of discharge of material from said kiln to a region below.

Apparatus for pyroprocessing of particulate material comprising, a circumferentially rotatable cylindrical kiln having a material input end and a material output region at its opposite end,

• circumferentially spaced material discharge openings in said kiln wall located near the edge of said material output end for discharge therethrough of kiln processed particles, some of said discharge openings being larger than others.

Apparatus for pyroprocessing of particulate material comprising a generally horizontal cylindrical rotary kiln having a material inlet end and a material exit end, said kiln being inclined slightly downward toward its exit end,

• a plurality of material openings provided in the kiln wall circumferentially distributed near the exit end for release of material passed through said kiln before reaching the end of the kiln,
• said openings being of size to allow passage therethrough of particulate matter of size smaller than a predetermined size while causing larger particles to pass on for discharge from the exit end of said kiln,
• said kiln openings being disposed to release particles directly from said kiln into the bed of a particle cooling unit while the exit end of the kiln for large particles is disposed to release said larger particles into a different region for receipt of particles of unacceptable size.

The method of cooling particulate material pyro-processed through a kiln comprising passing particles larger than a predetermined size out the end of the kiln, discharging particles of said predetermined size and less through circumferentially spaced openings of said predetermined size in the wall of the kiln, accumulating said discharged pyroprocessed particles directly in the cooling bed of a shaft cooler and withdrawing particles from said bed which are cooled therein, passing cooling air directly up through said bed to cool said particles whereby said air is heated by the heat of said particles and then introducing the heated air into the discharge end of the kiln for combustion processing of the particles therein.