Process of destructive distillation of organic material
OwnerKenneth M. Hollandinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The organic material (such as waste tire compound) is pyrolyzed by pre-heating the organic material (without pyrolysis) in a preheat zone 9 by a hot gas stream; feeding pre-heated material directly to a microwave discharge zone 10 by means of conveyor 8; pyrolyzing the pre-heated material in the microwave discharge zone to produce solid fission products containing elemental carbon and gaseous by-products; and recycling at least some of the latter to the hot gas stream which is supplied to the pre-heating zone.
Claims14
A process of destructive distillation of waste organic material containing a substantial proportion of carbon-carbon bonds, which comprises:
- (a) pre-heating said waste organic material at superatmospheric pressure and a temperature of at least about 250.degree. C. in a pre-heating zone, substantially without pyrolysis of said organic material to elemental carbon, by means of a hot gas stream;
- (b) feeding said pre-heated material by movable feed means directly from said pre-heating zone to a microwave discharge zone, with the stream of hot gas flowing in a direction opposite to the preheated material, said microwave discharge zone having an atmosphere comprising a substantially oxygen-free gas at superatmospheric pressure;
- (c) pyrolyzing said pre-heated material in said zone by means of a microwave discharge in the low gigahertz frequency range for about 15 to 60 minutes, to cause fission of substantially all the carbon-carbon bonds in said organic material, in addition to fission of more polar chemical bonds, to produce solid fission products of elemental carbon, and gaseous by-products;
- (d) collecting said solid fission products downstream of said microwave discharge zone;
- and
- (e) recycling at least part of said gaseous by-products to said hot gas stream to effect said pre-heating.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.