Apparatus for continuously processing liquids and/or solids including mixing, drying or reacting

An apparatus for continuously processing materials including mixing, drying or reacting, comprising:

• a chamber containing a plurality of axially separated processing zones in which the materials are accommodated and processed and through which the materials are axially moved between the zones, the zones being defined by an inner wall of the chamber and at least one weir with a weir being disposed at a boundary between zones within the chamber, and an opening extending vertically upward from the weir within the chamber for permitting the materials to pass from one zone to an adjacent zone;
• a shaft extending through the zones having a plurality of radially extending elements for contacting the materials within the zones with rotation of the shaft causing the materials within the zones to be contacted by the elements and axially passed through the opening between zones;
• a prime mover for rotating the shafts;
• a controller for controlling the speed or rotation of the shaft by the prime mover for controlling contact of the elements with the materials and rate of movement of the materials through the opening between the zones and axially within the zone;
• a material input for controlling feeding of materials into a first zone of the chamber which receives the materials with the elements contacting the materials in the first zone to perform initial processing of the materials within the chamber;
• and
• a material output for controlling the feeding of materials from a final zone in the chamber in which the elements contact the materials to perform final processing of the materials within the chamber;
• and
• wherein the material input and the material output respectively comprise a pair of valves coupled in series in the material input and in the material output and the pair of valves in the material input are opened and closed under control of the controller to control movement of the materials through the material input into the first zone and the pair of valves in the material output are opened and closed under control of the controller to control movement of materials from the final zone.

An apparatus for continuously processing materials including mixing, drying or reacting, comprising:

• a chamber containing a plurality of axially separated processing zones in which the materials are accommodated and processed and through which the materials are axially moved between the zones, the zones being defined by an inner wall of the chamber and at least one weir with a weir being disposed at a boundary between zones within the chamber, and an opening extending vertically upward from the weir within the chamber for permitting the materials to pass from one zone to an adjacent zone;
• a shaft extending through the zones having a plurality of radially extending elements for contacting the materials within the zones with rotation of the shaft causing the materials within the zones to be contacted by the elements and axially passed through the opening between zones;
• a primer mover for rotating the shafts;
• a controller for controlling the speed of rotation of the shaft by the prime mover for controlling contact of the elements with the materials and rate of movement of the materials through the opening between the zones and axially within the zone;
• a material input for controlling feeding of materials into a first zone of the chamber which receives the materials with the elements contacting the materials in the first zone to perform initial processing of the materials within the chamber;
• and
• a material output for controlling the feeding of materials from a final zone in the chamber in which the elements contact the materials to perform final processing of the materials within the chamber;
• and
• wherein the material input and material output respectively comprise a rotary airlock controlled by the controller with the rotary airlock in the material input controlling movement of the materials through the material input into the first zone and the rotary airlock in the material output controlling movement of the materials from the final zone.

An apparatus for continuously processing materials including mixing, drying or reacting, comprising:

• a chamber containing a plurality of axially separated processing zones in which the materials are accommodated and processed and through which the materials are axially moved between the zones, the zones being defined by an inner wall of the chamber and at least one weir with a weir being disposed at a boundary between zones within the chamber, and an opening extending vertically upward from the weir within the chamber for permitting the materials to pass from one zone to an adjacent zone the opening between zones comprises a gate having a movable member which is moved by an adjustment mechanism to vary a cross section of the opening between adjacent zones;
• a shaft extending through the ones having a plurality of radially extending elements for contacting the materials within the zones with rotation of the shaft causing the materials within the zones to be contacted by the elements and axially passed through the opening between zones;
• a prime mover for rotating the shafts;
• a controller for controlling a speed of rotation of the shaft by the prime mover for controlling contact of the elements with the materials and rate of movement of the materials through the opening between the zones and axially within a zone;
• and
• an adjustment mechanism disposed within the chamber,
• wherein the adjustment mechanism comprises an actuator which receives energy from outside the chamber with the movable member being moved by operation of controls disposed outside the chamber.

An apparatus for continuously processing materials including mixing, drying or reacting, comprising:

• a chamber containing a plurality of axially separated processing zones in which the materials are processed and through which the materials are axially moved between the zones, the zones being defined by an inner wall of the chamber and at least one weir with a weir being disposed at a boundary between zones within the chamber, and an opening extending vertically upward from the weir within the chamber for permitting the materials to pass from one zone to an adjacent zone;
• a shaft extending through the zones having a plurality of radially extending elements for contacting the materials within the zones with rotation of the shaft causing the materials within the zones to be contacted by the elements and axially passed through the opening between zones;
• a prime mover for rotating the shafts;
• a controller for controlling a speed of rotation of the shaft by the prime mover for controlling contact of the elements with the materials and rate of movement of the materials through the opening between the zones and axially within a zone;
• and
• a filtration screen disposed in a section of at least one of the zones for permitting liquid separation of liquid from solids disposed within the zones by liquid flowing through the screen to outside the chamber.

An apparatus for continuously processing materials including mixing, drying or reacting, comprising:

• a chamber containing a plurality of axially separated processing zones in which the materials are processed and through which the materials are axially moved between the zones, the zones being defined by an inner wall of the chamber and at least one weir with a weir being disposed at a boundary between zones within the chamber, and an opening extending vertically upward from the weir within the chamber for permitting the materials to pass from one zone to an adjacent zone;
• a shaft extending through the zones having a plurality of radially extending elements for contacting the materials within the zones with rotation of the shaft causing the materials within the zones to be contacted by the elements and axially passed through the opening between zones;
• a prime mover for rotating the shafts;
• a controller for controlling a speed of rotation of the shaft by the prime mover for controlling contact of the elements with the materials and rate of movement of the materials through the opening between the zones and axially within a zone;
• a material input and material output, said material input, material output and said chamber are sealed to maintain non-atmospheric pressure within the chamber, material input and material output;
• and
• a source of non-atmospheric pressure coupled to the chamber for maintaining the chamber at non-atmospheric pressure during processing of liquids or solids within the chamber.

An apparatus for continuously processing materials including mixing, drying or reacting, comprising:

• a chamber containing a plurality of axially separated processing zones in which the materials are processed and through which the materials are axially moved between the zones, the zones being defined by an inner wall of the chamber and at least one weir with a weir being disposed at a boundary between zones within the chamber, and an opening extending vertically upward from the weir within the chamber for permitting the materials to pass from one zone to an adjacent zone;
• a shaft extending through the zones having a plurality of radially extending elements for contacting the materials within the zones with rotation of the shaft causing the materials within the zones to be contacted by the elements and axially passed through the opening between zones;
• a prime mover for rotating the shafts;
• a controller for controlling a speed of rotation of the shaft by the prime mover for controlling contact of the elements with the materials and rate of movement of the materials through the opening between the zones and axially within a zone;
• an agitator disposed within the final zone for contacting the materials to cause the materials to flow into the material output, and
• wherein the agitator comprises an eccentric rotatably mounted on the shaft which is connected to a member extending into the material output with rotation of the eccentric causing the member to reciprocate within the material output.

An apparatus for continuously processing materials including mixing, drying or reacting, comprising:

• a chamber containing a plurality of axially separated processing zones in which the materials are processed and through which the materials are axially moved between the zones, the zones being defined by an inner wall of the chamber and at least one weir with a weir being disposed at a boundary between zones within the chamber, and an opening extending vertically upward from the weir within the chamber for permitting the materials to pass from one zone to an adjacent zone;
• a shaft extending through the zones having a plurality of radially extending elements for contacting the materials within the zones with rotation of the shaft causing the materials within the zones to be contacted by the elements and axially passed through the opening between zones;
• a prime mover for rotating the shafts;
• a controller for controlling a speed of rotation of the shaft by the prime mover for controlling contact of the elements with the materials and rate of movement of the materials through the opening between the zones and axially within a zone;
• and
• wherein the controller is programmable to provide a programmable processing of materials including control of a dwell time of the materials within each zone and a rate of movement of materials through the opening between zones.

An apparatus for processing materials including mixing, drying or reacting, comprising:

• a cylindrical chamber containing a plurality of axially separated cylindrical zones in which zones the materials are accommodated and processed, and after processing the materials are axially moved between the zones, the zones being defined by an inner wall of the chamber and at least one weir with a weir being disposed at a boundary between zones within the chamber, and a selectively openable opening extending vertically upward form the weir within the chamber for permitting the materials to pass from one zone to an adjacent zone only after the materials are processed in the respective zones;
• a shaft extending through the zones having a plurality of radially extending elements for contacting the materials within the zones with rotation of the shaft causing the materials within the zones to be contacted by the elements and axially passed through the opening between zones;
• a prime mover for rotating the shaft;
• and
• a controller for controlling rotation of the shaft by the prime mover for controlling contact of the elements with the materials and movement of the materials through the opening between the zones and axially within a zone.