Method and system for incineration and detoxification of semiliquid waste

A method for detoxifying a semiliquid waste containing water and petroleum oil, earth, organic contaminants, and metal contaminants, said method comprising:

• continuously feeding said waste into a combustion chamber for combusting by a plasma arc torch, producing a continuous molten residue stream, and continuous substantially gaseous emission stream;
• cooling said molten residue stream to produce solid residue in the form of an obsidian residue;
• reducing the concentration of water-soluble toxic compounds in said obsidian residue to nontoxic levels except for barium and barium compounds;
• cleansing said gaseous emission stream to reduce the concentrations of contaminants therein to nontoxic levels, producing a cleansed exhaust gas and an emission residue;
• and
• removing trace metal contaminants from said emission residue.

A method for detoxifying a semiliquid waste, said waste containing water and petroleum oil, earth, organic contaminants, and metal contaminants, said method comprising:

• continuously feeding said waste into a combustion chamber;
• combusting said waste in said combustion chamber by exposing said waste to a plasma arc torch to produce a substantially gaseous emission stream and a continuous molten residue stream, said gaseous emission stream containing gaseous contaminants and solid particulates;
• cooling said molten residue stream to produce a solid obsidian residue;
• reducing the concentration of water-soluble metal contaminants in said solid residue to nontoxic levels;
• cleansing said gaseous emission stream to reduce the concentrations of contaminants therein to nontoxic levels, said cleansing of said gaseous emission stream including the steps of condensing water vapor in said gaseous emission stream, growing particulates in said gaseous emission stream, absorbing said gaseous contaminants and collecting said particulates in said condensed water vapor, and separating said condensed water vapor and particulates from said gaseous emission stream to produce an emission residue;
• and
• removing trace metal contaminants from said emission residue by contacting said emission residue with an electroplating solution, placing an anode and a cathode into said electroplating solution, and imposing a current across said anode and said cathode to cause said trace metal contaminants to plate onto said cathode.

A system for detoxifying a semiliquid waste containing water and petroleum oil, earth, organic contaminants, and metal contaminants, said system comprising:

• means for separating said semiliquid waste into a substantially solid waste portion and a substantially liquid waste portion;
• a combustion chamber having an inlet for receiving said waste from said separating means;
• feed means having an inlet from said separating means and an outlet to said combustion chamber for separately feeding said liquid waste portion and said solid waste portion into said combustion chamber;
• a plasma arc torch mounted in fluid communication with said combustion chamber for combusting said waste to produce a substantially gaseous emission stream and an obsidian residue;
• means associated with said outlet for receiving said solid obsidian residue and reducing the concentration of unbound metal contaminants in said solid residue to nontoxic levels;
• means in communication with said combustion chamber for receiving said gaseous emission stream and for cleansing said gaseous emission stream to reduce the concentration of gaseous contaminants and solid particulates therein to nontoxic levels, producing a cleansed exhaust gas and an emission residue;
• and
• means for collecting said emission residue and for removing trace metal contaminants from said emission residue.