Asphalt plant having centralized media burner and low fugitive emissions

In an asphalt plant having a variety of asphalt processing components, a media burner for providing thermal energy to a first selected set of the components and for mitigating fugitive emissions captured from a second selected set of the components, the media burner comprising:

• an enclosed combustion chamber defined in part by a top wall, a bottom wall, and an interconnecting sidewall, a portion of the combustion chamber containing a matrix of ceramic members;
• an adjustable internal fuel delivery system for delivering fuel to a selected location in the combustion chamber, the fuel delivery system including a fuel manifold and a plurality of fuel rod assemblies having a portion extending into the combustion chamber, each of the fuel rod assemblies including an outer tube having a sidewall with at least one fuel port, the sidewall defining a chamber, each of the fuel rod assemblies further including an inner conduit disposed within the outer tube and being in flow communication with the fuel manifold, the inner conduit including an outlet end having an orifice for delivering fuel to the outer tube chamber, so that the outer tube fuel port delivers fuel from the outer tube chamber to the combustion chamber;
• an air inlet plenum for delivering combustion air to the combustion chamber;
• a duct system including a first portion being operatively connected to the first component set and being adapted to convey the thermal energy to the first component set, and further including a second portion operatively connecting the air inlet plenum to the second component set and being adapted to capture fugitive emissions from the second component set and to convey the captured emissions to the air inlet plenum for mitigation by the combustion chamber.

An asphalt plant, comprising:

• a plurality of asphalt processing components, a selected first set of the components producing volatile emissions;
• a central media burner operatively connected to a selected second set of components for providing heat energy to the second component set, the media burner having an enclosed combustion chamber defined in part by a top wall, a bottom wall, and an interconnecting sidewall, a portion of the combustion chamber containing a matrix of flame arresting ceramic members;
• a fuel delivery system adapted to deliver combustion fuel to the combustion chamber, the fuel delivery system including a fuel manifold and a plurality of fuel rod assemblies having a portion extending into the combustion chamber, each of the fuel rod assemblies including an outer tube having a sidewall defining a chamber, with the outer tube sidewall having at least one fuel port, and an inner conduit disposed within the outer tube and being in flow communication with the fuel manifold, the inner conduit including an outlet end having an orifice for delivering fuel to the outer tube chamber to thereby deliver fuel from the outer tube chamber to the combustion chamber;
• a first duct system in flow communication with the first component set and the central media burner, the first duct system including a fan and being adapted to capture a portion of the volatile emissions produced by the first component set and convey the captured emissions into the central media burner for mitigation;
• and
• a second duct system in flow communication with the second component set and the central media burner, the second duct system including a fan and being adapted to convey heat energy from the central media burner to the second component set.