Solid material comminution or disintegration – Processes – With application of fluid or lubricant material
Reexamination Certificate
1997-02-19
2001-05-08
Husar, John M. (Department: 3725)
Solid material comminution or disintegration
Processes
With application of fluid or lubricant material
C241S016000, C241S021000, C241S027000, C241S261300
Reexamination Certificate
active
06227467
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved method and apparatus for the blending of fuel and hazardous chemical solid waste into a pumpable fuel which can be burned in conventional kilns, such as cement kilns, and in industrial furnaces designed for burning liquids. The present invention also provides an improved method and apparatus for the reduction in size of solids, such as tires, and the dispersion of such solids in a blend stock so that it can be readily used as a fuel which obtains heat from the solids and destroys the solid wastes so that they are no longer hazardous.
2. General Background
Cement kilns have been used to utilize waste materials to supply heat thereto and they function to destroy the liquefied hazardous waste. Cement kilns function as excellent incinerators because they have operating temperatures which exceed 1800° F. and the flame temperature of the primary burner exceeds 3000° F. The residence time of combustion gases inside the kiln far exceed the required two seconds specified by the EPA. Also, the large mass of reactive minerals traveling down the length of the kiln chemically binds with inorganics to provide a stabilizing effect and the turbulent flow of alkaline mineral dust within the combustion gases flowing down the kiln provides excellent scrubbing of the gases before they are discharged to the environment.
In my co-pending application Ser. No. 07/841,834, flied Feb. 25, 1992, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,257,586 there is disclosed an improved method and apparatus for feeding solid waste materials to the interior of a cement kiln which has unique systems for the prevention of back-flashing of combustion in the feeding system and a system for delivering the solids to the interior of the rotating drum without interfering with the drum rotation.
Prior to the present invention, a mixture of liquid and semi-liquid (sludge) waste material has been delivered to the burner of a kiln as a means of destroying the hazardous waste and obtaining usable heat from such destructive burning. Other efforts have been made to supply such wastes pneumatically as dry and powdered solids into the primary burner of a kiln. These methods greatly limit the types and amounts of solid hazardous wastes which have been burned in kiln burners and industrial furnaces.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an improved method and apparatus for processing hazardous waste solids and combining such waste solids with a suitable liquid blend stock so the solids are dispersed sufficiently to provide a fluid stream which is readily burnable in a kiln or industrial furnaces. The method involves the feeding of a suitable liquid blend stock to a dispersion tank together with partially reduced solid wastes and therein further reducing the solid wastes to a sufficiently small size and dispersing the wastes in the liquid stock and delivering the resultant stream to an accumulation tank from which the liquid dispersion may be withdrawn and delivered to a preselected burner for the destruction of the dispersed waste solids and for the generation of usable heat from the burning of such liquid dispersion. In addition to the improved means for initial preparation of the waste solids and their delivery to the dispersion tank and the means for removing metal from the waste solids, the dispersion unit includes an impeller and a stationary plate which are positioned in the bottom of the dispersion tank and the impeller rotates with respect to the stationary plate. The facing surfaces of the impeller and plate include interdigitating shear blocks and axial movement between the impeller and plate is provided so that the shear blocks can reduce the solids to smaller and smaller sizes as the impeller and plate near each other. A means is provided for the feeding of a stream of material from above the impeller downwardly through a central opening into the space between the impeller and plate, which is designated the attrition zone, and the stream passes radially outward between the impeller and plate while also being subject to the actions of the shear blocks to reduce the size of the solids. A means is provided to withdraw a stream from the dispersion tank after it has been through the smallest spacing of the impellers to be
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and that stream is delivered to the accumulation tank. A means is also provided to recirculate material from the accumulation tank to the dispersion tank through a suitable pump, a grinding means and a magnetic trap means. The present invention may be used with all forms of solids, such as tires, wood, waste materials which have been encapsulated in metal drums and other waste materials. The dispersion tank and the transfer means both include means for the removal of metal from the system so that it is not fed to the burner. Additionally, the present invention provides improved means for preprocessing solid wastes to be delivered to the dispersion tank of the present invention which maintains the hazardous waste solids in an inert atmosphere to ensure that no hazardous material is free to escape from the system. By utilizing the attrition zone of the present invention, it can disperse solids and semi-solids in a fluid stream as a part of the function of a rotating impeller.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved method of preparing hazardous solid wastes which allows them to be readily burned in kiln or industrial furnaces to yield heat and cause their ultimate destruction.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved apparatus and method of dispersing hazardous solid wastes in a suitable blend stock so that they may be readily fed to a burner in a kiln or industrial furnace.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for processing hazardous solid waste which reduces the size of the solids to a sufficient degree that they may be dispersed into a stream of blend stock which can readily be fired.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for processing hazardous solid waste materials so that they may be readily burned with an efficient and simple method which is cost effective to operate and requires little maintenance.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and apparatus for reducing the size of solids and dispersing them in a fluid media.
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