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US 4,872,954 AGranted
Apparatus for the treatment of waste
OwnerJim S. Hoganinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus and method are disclosed for the separation and extraction of a waste material into a solid, a liquid, and a gas phase utilizing a rotating drum that is heated by a fluid medium circulating over the exterior surface of the drum in a chamber. The interior of the drum is sealed from the atmosphere and from the chamber. The waste material flows to the interior of the drum where the liquid components are vaporized and the solids are dried. The drum vapor effluent is cooled and the condensable components are condensed and separated. The noncondensable components are used as fuel for heating the heating medium. The dry solids flow from the retort to disposal facilities.
Claims42
A retort for treating waste, comprising:
- a sloped rotating drum having a front end and a back end, the front end being in a higher position with respect to the back end;
- rotating means being mounted to the drum for rotating the drum;
- fins being affixed to the exterior surface of the drum;
- scrapers being mounted in the drum for scraping material from the surface of the drum;
- baffles mounted in the interior surface of the drum;
- a drum enclosure for enclosing the drum and forming a chamber therebetween, the chamber being isolated from the interior of the drum;
- a burner being mounted apart from the drum and having a fire tube, the burner generating hot exhaust gases;
- a first conduit for conveying the hot exhaust gases to the chamber where the exhaust gases release heat to the drum whereby the exhaust gases are cooled;
- a second conduit for returning cooled exhaust gases from the chamber to the burner, flowing the returned cooled exhaust gases over the fire tube to cool the fire tube, and mixing the returned cooled exhaust gases with hot exhaust gases generated by the burner;
- a fan being mounted in the second conduit for providing the driving force for conveying the exhaust gases from the burner to the chamber and for returning the cooled exhaust gases to the burner;
- a damper being mounted in the second conduit for regulating the amount of cooled exhaust gases being returned to the burner from the chamber;
- an exhaust line for exhausting exhaust gases to the atmosphere;
- a seal for sealing the chamber from the atmosphere whereby fluid communication between the chamber and the atmosphere is provided through the exhaust line only;
- a screw conveyor being connected to the back end of the drum by a collection chamber, the screw conveyor having an inlet and an outlet;
- a conveyor enclosure enclosing a portion of the conveyor and forming a flow passage therebetween, the flow passage having an inlet and an outlet;
- an air compressor being connected to the inlet of the flow passage;
- an air conduit for connecting the outlet of the flow passage to the air inlet of the burner;
- a collector being connected to the outlet of the screw conveyor;
- a bucket elevator being connected to the collector and having a bucket elevator discharge;
- a storage tank being connected to the bucket elevator discharge;
- a vapor conduit being in fluid communication with the front end of the drum;
- an accumulator being connected to the outlet of the vapor conduit;
- an overhead line connecting the overhead of the accumulator with the fuel burning side of the burner;
- a compressor for providing a driving force for vapors slowing in the overhead line;
- a first liquid line for removing liquid from one section of the accumulator;
- a second liquid line for removing liquid from another section of the accumulator;
- a first pump being connected to the first liquid line;
- a second pump being connected to the second liquid line;
- a pressure equalizing line connecting the second exchanger and the accumulator;
- a feed conduit being connected to the front end of the drum;
- a first heat exchanger for providing heat exchange between the feed conduit and the vapor conduit;
- a second heat exchanger for providing heat exchange between the feed conduit and the vapor conduit;
- a centrifuge being connected to the feed conduit;
- and
- a feed pump being connected to the feed conduit.
32 more elements
A retort, comprising:
- a drum;
- means for preventing communication between the interior of the drum and the atmosphere;
- a burner having a fire tube and generating hot exhaust gases;
- means for flowing a hot fluid medium from the burner to he exterior surface of the drum to supply heat to the drum whereby the hot fluid medium is cooled;
- means for returning cooled fluid medium from the exterior surface of the drum to the burner;
- means for encircling the fire tube with the returned cooled fluid medium to cool the fire tube;
- means for blending the returned cooled fluid medium with hot exhaust gases from the burner following the encircling of the fire tube by the returned cooled fluid medium to generate the hot fluid medium which flows to the exterior surface of the drum via the flowing means;
- and
- means for preventing communication between the fluid medium and the interior of the drum.
6 more elements
A retort for treating waste material, comprising:
- a drum;
- a drum enclosure for enclosing the drum and forming a chamber therebetween, the chamber being isolated from the interior of the drum to prevent fluid communication between the chamber and the interior of the drum;
- a burner having a fire tube and generating hot exhaust gases;
- a recirculation loop conduit for conveying the hot exhaust gases to the chamber where the hot exhaust gases release heat to the drum whereby the hot exhaust gases are cooled to form cooled exhaust gases, returning cooled exhaust gases from the chamber to the burner, flowing the cooled exhaust gases over the exterior surface of the fire tube, mixing the returned cooled exhaust gases with hot exhaust gases generated by the burner, and circulating the mixture to the chamber;
- means for feeding waste material to the drum;
- means for removing vapor effluent from the drum;
- and
- means for removing solid effluent from the drum.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.