Equipment for heating pulverulent products

Apparatus for heating pulverulent products, comprising:

• a cylindrical vessel having the shape of a flat drum with a diameter to height ratio of about 2:1, the vessel having a double-walled side wall, the two walls of which define an annular space between them, the outer wall being heat insulated and the inner wall being heat conducting,
• a double walled bottom for the vessel, the two walls of which are spaced apart vertically, the lower bottom wall being heat insulated and the upper bottom wall being upwardly curved and heat conducting,
• the vessel having an upper filling opening and a lower discharge opening for the product to be treated,
• a dome-like housing mounted on top of the vessel,
• a dividing wall separating the interior of the vessel from the interior of the dome-like housing,
• an agitator which is symmetrical about the longitudinal axis of the vessel, the agitator including a vertical shaft passing through and being rotatably supported by the dividing wall,
• two radial arms projecting from the lower end of the agitator shaft and arranged 180.degree. apart, each arm carrying a stirrer blade near the cylindrical side wall of the vessel and a bottom scraper, one of the bottom scrapers being adjacent to the stirrer blade carried by its arm and the other bottom scraper being adjacent to the shaft, each bottom scraper having a dimension along its respective arm equal to about one half the distance between the shaft and each stirrer blade,
• means for rotating the agitator shaft located within the dome-like housing,
• a removable lid on the dome-like housing, means carried by the lid for supporting the agitator shaft, and a gasket between the lid and the housing for providing a seal,
• the space between the two bottom walls defining a heating chamber, heating means in the form of a ring burner within the heating chamber, the burner being supplied with fuel through pipes located within the spaces between the two side walls of the vessel, the heating chamber communicating with the lower end of the annular space between the two side walls and that space being open at its upper end.