Method and apparatus for the treatment and utilization of solid and liquid waste mixtures

A method of treating and utilizing solid and liquid waste materials and mixtures thereof by salvaging the organic substances thereof for high-yield generation of energy, comprising:

• a first increment of removing from the mixture of waste materials visually and manually detectable components and of separating them according to classes such as metal, glass, plastic, paper, compounds, composite materials and others, initially subjecting the stream of material to be processed to pre-drying in a drying device and purifying the exhaust gas laden with water vapor and vaporizable materials by a (hereafter “biofilter”), removing from the substantially deodorized material in a first sieving device mineral dirt such as sand, earth and small pieces, removing iron and non-ferrous metals in a metal separator and separating them manually or by automatic systems on a sorting conveyor belt, storing the sorted materials according to material classes in separate equal-level collection containers for transport to conventional salvaging facilities;
• a second increment including reducing the non-sorted remaining material to a granular size of about 150 mm to 250 mm and extracting therefrom, separated as iron and non-ferrous metals, any further metallic components, removing from the material any residual moisture in a second drying device and thereafter subjecting the material to a second sieving stage having a mesh size 50% smaller than that of the first sieving device and floating the sifted material in a floatation, subjecting the material thus freed of any metal scrap to compaction and simultaneously further reducing the sifted residue for removing any further metallic components, combining the further reduced material with the floated material such that the remaining material is almost exclusively organic, increasing the moisture content of the organic material thus obtained from the floated and the further reduced materials to a level specific to the process by a computer-controlled addition of fluid such as biological sludges and other slurries and parameters determined by moisture sensors and conveyor scales, compaction to Briquettes such it leads to heating of the material composition to more than 150° C.;
• a third increment of producing an energetically useful tar-free gas from the thus-produced briquettes by means of a gasification reactor at a gasification temperature of about 300° C. to 450° C. and by passing the gas over a burning bed of coke of a temperature of about 1,000° C. to 1,400° C. by initially feeding the briquettes thus produced to the gasification process by means of a rotary vane feeder as well as oxygen from the air and/or water vapor, the water vapor being produced in an annular gap between the inner and outer shells of the gasification reactor and distributed through openings in the upper and lower sections of the gasification reactor sections as well as through distribution devices in the reactor, the amount of the water vapor being controlled by sensors mounted within the reactor for monitoring pressure, temperature, mass flow and chemical composition of the gas, the gas, following passage over the conveyor weigher or scale, being diverted through openings below the gasification reactor and being thereafter rapidly cooled to 30° C. to 60° C., scrubbed and dried;
• and
• a fourth process increment of directly generating from the gas heat energy by means of a gas burner and/or generating electric energy by means of a combustion engine coupled to a generator and heat energy from the hot exhaust of the gas treatment, engine cooling and engine exhaust gas and/or catalytically generating electric energy in a fuel cell by oxidizing oxidizable components contained in the gas and by way of heat exchangers utilizing the hot exhaust from the fuel cell exhaust air as heat energy.