# US 6,193,503 B1 · Ash melting furnace and ash melting method thereof > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 6,193,503 B1 - Document ID: US6193503B1 - Status: Granted - Kind: B1 - Application number: 09/424,063 - Filed: 2000-03-28 - Granted: 2001-02-27 - Earliest claimed: 1998-03-27 - Assignees: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. - Inventors: Takehiro Kitta; Masao Takuma; Hiroki Honda; Kimitoshi Ose; Tetsuo Sato; Izuru Ishikawa; Kenichi Shibata; Akira Noma - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US6193503B1 ## CPC - C03B 5/005: {of glass-forming waste materials (disposal or transformation of solid waste in general B09B; treatment of radioactive waste G21F9/00)} - C03B 5/2353: {by combustion with pure oxygen or oxygen-enriched air, e.g. using oxy-fuel burners or oxygen lances} - C21B 3/04: Recovery of by-products, e.g. slag - F23G 5/00: Incineration of waste (of specific waste F23G7/00); Incinerator constructions; Details, accessories or control therefor - F23G 5/085: {High-temperature heating means, e.g. plasma, for partly melting the waste} - F23G 5/444: {for solid waste (F23G5/448 takes precedence)} - F23G 5/50: Control or safety arrangements - F23J 1/00: Removing ash, clinker, or slag from combustion chambers ({removing flyash from flue gas F23J15/022;} devices for removal of material from the bed of fluidised bed combustion apparatus F23C10/24) - F23J 1/08: Liquid slag removal - F27B 17/00: Furnaces of a kind not covered by any of groups F27B1/00 - F27B15/00 (structural combinations of furnaces F27B19/02) - F27D 3/04: Ram or pusher apparatus - F27D 3/08: Screw feeders; Screw dischargers - F27D 19/00: Arrangements of controlling devices - F27D 21/02: Observation or illuminating devices - F23G 2202/104: with ash melting stage - F23G 2202/20: to temperatures melting waste - F23G 2203/101: with stepped or inclined grate - F23G 2204/103: gaseous or liquid fuel - F23G 2205/10: using ram or pusher - F23G 2205/121: Screw conveyor - F23G 2207/1015: Heat pattern monitoring of flames - F23G 2209/30: Solid combustion residues, e.g. bottom or flyash - F23G 2900/50004: Furnace with inclined hearth - F23G 2900/55005: Sensing ash or slag properties - F23J 2900/01001: Sorting and classifying ashes or fly-ashes from the combustion chamber before further treatment - F23J 2900/01007: Thermal treatments of ash, e.g. temper or shock-cooling for granulation - F23N 2229/20: Camera viewing - F27D 3/0033: {charging of particulate material} - F27D 15/00: Handling or treating discharged material; Supports or receiving chambers therefor - F27D 99/0033: {using burners} - F27D 2019/004: {Fuel quantity} - F27D 2019/0043: {Amount of air or O2 to the burner} - Y02E 20/34: Indirect CO2mitigation, i.e. by acting on non CO2directly related matters of the process, e.g. pre-heating or heat recovery - Y02P 10/32: using renewable energy sources - Y02P 40/50: Glass production, e.g. reusing waste heat during processing or shaping - Y02W 30/50: Reuse, recycling or recovery technologies - C03B: MANUFACTURE, SHAPING, OR SUPPLEMENTARY PROCESSES - C21B: MANUFACTURE OF IRON OR STEEL (preliminary treatment of ferrous ores or scrap C22B1/00) - F23G: CREMATION FURNACES; CONSUMING WASTE PRODUCTS BY COMBUSTION - F23J: REMOVAL OR TREATMENT OF COMBUSTION PRODUCTS OR COMBUSTION RESIDUES; FLUES (combustion apparatus for consuming smoke or fumes, e.g. exhaust gases, F23G7/06) - F27B: FURNACES, KILNS, OVENS OR RETORTS IN GENERAL; OPEN SINTERING OR LIKE APPARATUS - F27D: DETAILS OR ACCESSORIES OF FURNACES, KILNS, OVENS OR RETORTS, IN SO FAR AS THEY ARE OF KINDS OCCURRING IN MORE THAN ONE KIND OF FURNACE - F23N: REGULATING OR CONTROLLING COMBUSTION (control devices specially adapted for combustion apparatus in which combustion takes place in a fluidised bed of fuel or other particles F23C10/28; condition responsive controls for regulating combustion in domestic stoves with open fires for solid fuel F24B1/187) - Y02E: REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION - Y02P: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRODUCTION OR PROCESSING OF GOODS - Y02W: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES RELATED TO WASTEWATER TREATMENT OR WASTE MANAGEMENT ## Abstract The object of this invention is to provide an ash-melting furnace which can respond to fluctuations in the load and which will be capable of highly efficient and stable operation. In an ash-melting furnace which heats and melts the primary ash and the fly ash obtained by combustion together, this invention is characterized by supplying the primary ash (ash containing rough particles) from upper end of the furnace to form an upper layer of a two-tiered layer of ash, supplying the fly ash (ash containing minute particles) from an upper end of the furnace to form a lower layer of the two-tiered layer of ash, moving the two-tiered layer together towards the far end of the furnace, and heating and melting the two-tiered layer by a burner to form molten slugs during the moving step. When the burner is an oxygen-enriched burner, this configuration makes it possible to control the volume of oxygen to be added to the burner air (including changing the density of the oxygen). This invention can control not only the volume of fuel but also the density of the oxygen-enriched air and the volume of the ash to be supplied in response to the state of flow of the molten ash melted by the oxygen-enriched burner. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An ash-melting furnace, comprising: an ash supply port to supply ash provided at one end of said furnace; a slug discharge port to discharge molten slugs of the ash at another end of said furnace; an oxygen-enriched burner to melt the ash supplied from said ash supply port, the supplied ash being pushed forward along an inclined floor towards a drain port provided at a far end of said inclined floor to drain the molten slugs; a detector to detect or calculate a volume or a drain velocity of outflow of the molten slugs; a comparator for comparing an output value from said detector with a preset value; and a controller to control either quantity of the ash supplied or quantity of heat produced by said oxygen-enriched burner in response to a signal from said comparator in order to make the outflow of the molten slugs stable and continuous. ### Claim 2 An ash-melting furnace, comprising: an ash supply port to supply ash provided at one end of said furnace; a slug discharge port to discharge molten slugs of the ash at another end of said furnace; an oxygen-enriched burner to melt the ash supplied from said ash supply port, the supplied ash being pushed forward along an inclined floor towards a drain port provided at a far end of said inclined floor to drain the molten slugs; a combustion control device, comprising: a monitor to monitor a volume or a drain velocity of outflow of the molten slugs at said drain port; a calculator to calculate a control signal, based on a result from comparing said monitored volume or drain velocity with preset value, either for quantity of the ash supplied or quantity of heat produced by said oxygen-enriched burner; and a controller to control either the quantity of ash supplied or the quantity of heat produced by said oxygen-enriched burner in response to the control signal from said calculator. ### Claim 3 An ash-melting furnace, comprising: an ash supply port to supply ash provided at one end of said furnace; a slug discharge port to discharge molten slugs of the ash at another end of said furnace; an oxygen-enriched burner to melt the ash supplied from said ash supply port, the supplied ash being pushed forward along an inclined floor towards a drain port provided at a far end of said inclined floor to drain the molten slugs; and a guide wall on a dike for assuring fluidity of the molten slugs at said drain port, wherein said dike is continually straight or curved and width is gradually narrowed towards said drain port. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) An ash-melting furnace according to claim 3, wherein said drain port is provided in a center of said dike, and a floor of a slug reservoir is recessed along an orthogonal direction of slug flow, which slopes gradually downward from upstream to downstream. ### Claim 5 An ash-melting furnace, comprising: an ash supply port to supply ash provided at one end of said furnace; a slug discharge port to discharge molten slugs of the ash at another end of said furnace; and a pusher to push the ash on an inclined floor supplied from said ash supply port towards a region covered by radiant heat from a burner for melting the ash, wherein said pusher has a pushing surface provided at an end thereof, and a shape of sides of said pushing surface is different from a shape of a central portion of said pushing surface in order to supply the ash efficiently to the region covered by the radiant heat of said burner, wherein the central portion of said pushing surface is higher than the sides of said pushing surface, or said central portion is formed flat and the sides have a backwardly inclined surface in order to supply the ash efficiently to the region covered by the radiant heat of said burner. ### Claim 6 An ash-melting furnace, comprising: an ash supply port to supply ash provided at one end of said furnace; a slug discharge port to discharge molten slugs of the ash at another end of said furnace; and a pusher to push the ash on an inclined floor supplied from said ash supply port towards a region covered by radiant heat from a burner for melting the ash, wherein said pusher has a pushing surface provided at an end thereof, and a shape sides of said pushing surface is different from a shape of a central portion of said pushing surface in order to supply the ash efficiently to the region covered by the radiant heat of said burner, wherein the central portion of said pushing surface drops away towards a center of said pusher to form a concave pushing surface, so that said pushing surface is directed towards a center line which passes through a middle of the region of radiant heat. ### Claim 7 An ash-melting furnace, comprising: an ash supply port to supply ash provided at one end of said furnace; a slug discharge port to discharge molten slugs of the ash at another end of said furnace; a burner to melt the ash supplied from said ash supply port, the supplied ash being pushed forward along an inclined floor towards a drain port provided at a far end of said inclined floor to drain the molten slugs; and an ash feeder system to continuously feed the ash from said ash supply port along said inclined floor, said ash feeder system comprising a first ash feeder oriented lengthwise along said inclined floor from said ash supply port, and a second ash feeder oriented vertically above said ash supply port. ### Claim 8 An ash-melting furnace, comprising: an ash supply port to supply ash provided at one end of said furnace; a slug discharge port to discharge molten slugs of the ash at another end of said furnace; a burner to melt the ash supplied from said ash supply port, the supplied ash being pushed forward along an inclined floor towards a drain port provided at a far end of said inclined floor to drain the molten slugs; an ash feeder to continuously feed the ash from said ash supply port along said inclined floor, said feeder being provided in said ash supply port; and an adjustable gate along a wall of said ash supply port for adjusting the height of a layer of said ash on said inclined floor. ### Claim 9 An ash-melting furnace, comprising: at least two ash supply ports to supply ash provided at an upper end of said furnace, the first ash supply port being used for supplying primary ash, the second ash supply port being used for supplying fly ash (ash containing minute particles), said primary and fly ash forming a two-tiered layer of ash on an inclined floor, said first and second ash supply ports being arranged in such a way that the fly ash forms a lower layer of said two-tiered layer, and the primary ash forms an upper layer on said lower layer of fly ash; a slug discharge port-to discharge molten slugs of the ash at the other end of said furnace; and a burner to melt the fly and primary ash supplied from said at least two ash supply ports, the supplied ash being pushed forward along said inclined floor towards a drain port provided at a far end of said inclined floor to drain the molten slug. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) An ash-melting furnace according to claim 9, wherein said first ash supply port used for supplying the primary ash is located at a downstream area of said furnace, and said second ash supply port used for supplying the fly ash is located at an upstream area of said furnace. ### Claim 11 (depends on 9) An ash-melting furnace according to claim 9, wherein said first ash supply port used for supplying the primary ash is located at an upper area above the floor of said furnace, and said second ash supply port used for supplying the fly ash is located at a lower area above the floor of said furnace. ### Claim 12 (depends on 9) An ash-melting furnace according to claim 9, further comprising an ash feeding means, such as a screw feeder, to feed the fly ash at an upstream area of said furnace, said ash feeding means being oriented lengthwise along said inclined floor from said ash supply port. ### Claim 13 (depends on 9) An ash-melting furnace according to claim 9, further comprising a gate along a wall of said ash supply port for adjusting the height of a layer of ash on said inclined floor. ### Claim 14 An ash melting method to melt ash, comprising a step of: supplying primary ash (ash containing rough particles) from an upper end of said furnace to form an upper layer of a two-tiered layer of ash; supplying fly ash (ash containing minute particles) from the upper end of said furnace to form a lower layer of the two-tiered layer of ash; moving the two-tiered layer together towards the far end of said furnace, and heating and melting said two-tiered layer by a burner to form molten slugs during said moving step; and discharging said molten slugs from a slug discharging port at the other end of the furnace.