Furnaces – Process – Incinerating refuse
Patent
1995-01-06
1996-07-23
Kwon, John T.
Furnaces
Process
Incinerating refuse
110238, 4234182, 588201, F23G 700
Patent
active
055379400
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is the U.S. National Phase of International Application No. PCT/US93/05398, filed on Jun. 8, 1993, which is a Continuation-in-Part Application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/895,358, filed Jun. 8, 1992. The teachings of the applications are hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Disposal of organic wastes in landfills and by incineration has become an increasingly difficult problem because of diminishing availability of disposal space, strengthened governmental regulations, and the growing public awareness of the impact of hazardous substance contamination upon the environment. Release of hazardous organic wastes to the environment can contaminate air and water supplies thereby diminishing the quality of life in the affected populations.
To minimize the environmental effects of the disposal of organic wastes, methods must be developed to convert these wastes into benign, and preferably, useful substances. In response to this need, there has been a substantial investment in the development of alternate methods for suitably treating hazardous organic wastes. One of the most promising new methods is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,574,714 and 4,602,574, issued to Bach and Nagel. The Bach/Nagel method for destroying organic material, including toxic wastes, involves decomposition of the organic material to its atomic constituents in a molten metal and reformation of these atomic constituents into environmentally acceptable products, including hydrogen, carbon monoxide and/or carbon dioxide gases.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for treating organic waste in molten metal contained in a vessel to sequentially form enriched hydrogen gas and carbon oxide gas streams.
In one embodiment, an organic waste containing hydrogen and carbon is introduced into molten metal, without the addition of a separate oxidizing agent and under conditions sufficient to decompose the organic waste and to generate an enriched hydrogen gas stream and to carbonize the molten metal. The enriched hydrogen gas stream is substantially removed from the vessel. Thereafter, a separate oxidizing agent is added into the carbonized molten metal to oxidize carbon contained in the carbonized molten metal to form an enriched carbon oxide gas stream. The enriched carbon oxide gas stream is substantially removed from the vessel.
In another embodiment of the invention employed to increase the amount of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide in the enriched carbon oxide gas stream, the organic waste is introduced into molten metal contained in a vessel which comprises two immiscible metals wherein the first immiscible metal has a free energy of oxidation, at the operating conditions, greater than that for oxidation of carbon to carbon monoxide and the second immiscible metal has a free energy of oxidation, at the operating conditions, greater than that for oxidation of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide, without the addition of a separate oxidizing agent and under conditions sufficient to decompose the organic waste and to generate an enriched hydrogen gas stream and to carbonize at least one of the two immiscible metals. The enriched hydrogen gas stream is substantially removed from the vessel. Thereafter, a separate oxidizing agent is added into the carbonized molten metal to oxidize carbon contained in the carbonized molten metal to generate an enriched carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide gas stream having a significantly increased ratio of carbon dioxide/carbon monoxide compared to that produced in molten iron under the same conditions and decarbonizing the molten metal. The enriched carbon oxide gas stream is substantially removed from the vessel.
This invention has the advantage of treating organic waste to form an enriched stream of hydrogen gas and a separate enriched stream of carbon oxide gas, such as carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide or both. Enriched hydrogen and/or carbon oxide gas streams are often desired. For example, an enriched stream o
REFERENCES:
patent: 1803221 (1931-04-01), Tyrer
patent: 1968063 (1934-07-01), Woodhouse
patent: 2449359 (1948-09-01), Abrams et al.
patent: 2647045 (1953-07-01), Rummel
patent: 3252774 (1966-05-01), McMahon et al.
patent: 3619144 (1971-11-01), Bawa et al.
patent: 3850742 (1974-11-01), Dugan et al.
patent: 3852188 (1974-12-01), Dugan et al.
patent: 3969490 (1976-07-01), de Bueckelaer et al.
patent: 4345990 (1982-08-01), Fahlstrom et al.
patent: 4388084 (1983-06-01), Okane et al.
patent: 4389246 (1983-06-01), Okamura et al.
patent: 4496369 (1985-01-01), Torneman
patent: 4511372 (1985-04-01), Axelsson
patent: 4574714 (1986-03-01), Bach et al.
patent: 4602574 (1986-07-01), Bach et al.
patent: 4681599 (1987-07-01), Obkircher
patent: 4684402 (1987-08-01), Geskin et al.
patent: 5069716 (1991-12-01), Dam et al.
patent: 5078788 (1992-01-01), Bueno et al.
patent: 5152831 (1992-10-01), Yamaguchi et al.
patent: 5177304 (1993-01-01), Nagal
patent: 5191154 (1993-03-01), Nagal
patent: 5298233 (1994-03-01), Nagel
patent: 5301620 (1994-04-01), Nagel et al.
patent: 5436210 (1995-07-01), Wilkinson et al.
McGeever Casey E.
Nagel Christopher J.
Sparks Kevin A.
Kwon John T.
Molten Metal Technology, Inc.
LandOfFree
Method for treating organic waste does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method for treating organic waste, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method for treating organic waste will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-706338