US 6,197,081 B1Granted

Method for bio-refining waste organic material to produce denatured and sterile nutrient products

OwnerErick Schmidtinventor

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Abstract

A method for treating infectious organic waste material such as dewatered sewage sludge, mixed organic wastes and animal waste. The method includes mixing the infectious organic waste material with a comminuted organic fibrous material to provide a reaction mixture. An oxidizing agent is an optional additive. The reaction mixture is heated in a hyperbaric reactor vessel at an elevated pressure and temperature for a time sufficient to create saturated steam and to produce a substantially denatured product containing inactivated pathogenic agents. The denatured product is dehydrated to produce a free-flowing solid product that may be used in various agricultural, industrial or commercial applications. Odor is controlled so that malodorous compounds are not released to the atmosphere.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method for converting infectious organic waste material selected from the group consisting of food waste, food processing waste, animal carcasses, animal body parts, animal organs, animal tissues, and mixtures thereof, into a denatured, value-added solid, plant or animal nutrient product, wherein the infectious organic waste material contains solid and liquid components, the method comprising

(a) comminuting absorbent organic fibrous material from a source other than the infectious organic waste material;
(b) mixing the absorbent organic fibrous material with the infectious organic waste material to form a reaction mixture;
(c) heating the reaction mixture in a hyperbaric reactor vessel at an elevated temperature and at a superatmospheric pressure for a time sufficient to create saturated steam, to hydrolyze the absorbent organic fibrous material and to convert the reaction mixture into a substantially denatured plant or animal nutrient product containing inactivated pathogenic agents;
(d) releasing vapor from the hyperbaric reactor vessel into a condenser;
(e) dehydrating the denatured plant or animal nutrient product in the hyperbaric reactor vessel to produce a free-flowing solid denatured plant or animal nutrient product;
and
(f) discharging the dehydrated free-flowing solid denatured plant or animal nutrient product from the hyperbaric reactor vessel.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 09/272,015Filed 18 Mar 1999 · us provisional application
Priority: 18 Mar 1998
Granted: 6 Mar 2001
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification17 codes

C05F 1/00
Fertilisers made from animal corpses, or parts thereof
A23K 10/26
From material of animal origin: from waste material, e.g. feathers, bones or skin
A23K 10/32
From material of plant origin, e.g. roots, seeds or hay; from material of fungal origin, e.g. mushrooms: from hydrolysates of wood or straw
A61L 2/07
Hot gas: steam