Systems and methods for sorting recyclables at a material recovery facility
AssigneeCasella Waste Systems, Inc.
InventorsJames W. Bohlig, Sean P. Duffy
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods for providing a quantity of cullet having at least two colors of glass from an input stream of recyclable material and non-recyclable material. In an embodiment, the system includes a sortation station, a screening apparatus, an air classifier, and a crushing apparatus to provide as output substantially pure cullet having at least two colors.
Claims39
A system for providing a quantity of cullet having at least two colors of glass from an input stream of recyclable material and non-recyclable material having at least two colors of glass, comprising:
- a sortation station for receiving the input stream, and removing from the input stream at least a portion of the non-recyclable material;
- a first screening apparatus configured to substantially remove corrugated fiber products from the input stream;
- a second screening apparatus configured to substantially remove newspaper from the input stream;
- an air classifier for receiving glass from the input stream, and extracting at least one of plastic, aluminum and paper elements from the input stream;
- a crushing apparatus that receives the glass from said air classifier, and breaks substantially all of the glass into pieces having a largest dimension equal to or less than a predetermined length;
- and
- a third screening apparatus for receiving the crushed glass and removing additional non-glass contaminants, thereby providing as output the cullet comprising at least two colors.
A method for providing a quantity of cullet having at least two colors of glass from an input stream of recyclable material and non-recyclable material having at least two colors of glass, comprising:
- a) removing from the input stream at least a portion of the non-recyclable material;
- b) removing corrugated fiber products from the input stream by used of a disc screen apparatus;
- c) removing newspaper from the input stream;
- d) extracting at least one of plastic, aluminum and paper elements from the input stream;
- e) breaking, subsequent to step b), the glass of the input stream into pieces having a largest dimension equal to or less than a predetermined length;
- and
- f) removing additional non-glass contaminants, thereby providing as output the cullet comprising at least two colors.
A system for providing a quantity of cullet having at least two colors of glass from an input stream of recyclable material and non-recyclable material having at least two colors of glass, comprising:
- a sortation station for receiving the input stream, and removing from the input stream at least a portion of the non-recyclable material;
- an air classifier for receiving glass from the input stream, and extracting at least one of plastic, aluminum and paper elements from the input stream;
- a crushing apparatus that receives the glass from said air classifier, and breaks substantially all of the glass into pieces having a largest dimension equal to or less than a predetermined length;
- a first screening apparatus for receiving the crushed glass and removing additional non-glass contaminants, thereby providing as output the cullet comprising at least two colors;
- a second screening apparatus for substantially removing corrugated fiber products from the input stream;
- a third screening apparatus for substantially removing newspaper from the input stream, and
- a fourth screening apparatus that receives non-glass items and residual glass from said third screening apparatus, and substantially removes paper items from the non-glass items.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.