WO1994021977A1 - Furnace for processing and recovering organic and inorganic material by means of a dry method, and method therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

A furnace and a related method for performing dry processes, i.e. ones using no vapour other than that from the materials being processed, whereby substantial energy savings may be achieved. Said furnace consists of an enclosing shell divided into two areas (O) and housing a rotating drum (A) containing the material to be processed and covering a shaft (B) provided with blades (J) secured to a scraper (L) for preventing the materials being processed from sticking to the inner surface of the drum during processing. Notwithstanding that the shaft (B) coincides with the imaginary axis of the drum, it is not rigidly connected thereto, although it may also rotate. The drum (A) has circular gaps in the region of covers (H), which gaps are vertically aligned with the inlets of tubes (M) and unblocked by lugs (I).

Description

 Description

Furnace for the treatment and the profit of the organic and inorganic matter, by a dry process, and the respective process

Technical area.

The oven presented here is intended for the treatment and profit of the residues of organic and inorganic matter. Thus, it particularly targets the treatment and profit of residues from the food industries - such as fish residues, bagasse of olives, animal blood, bones, rendered fat from ruminant animals, fat from animal carcasses in poor condition of conservation, when they cannot be part of the food distribution chain - and still for the treatment and the profit of inorganic matter or mixtures of this matter with organic matter, like, for example, vases which result from filtration of beer or sludge with slag which result from the fusion of metals.

At a time when problems such as the profit from the residues of industrial activity and damage from fishing, slaughterhouses, butcheries, and other industries are of great importance - whether from a point of view economical, or whether from an ecological point of view, once generally to remove these residues they are discharged into the environment without having any type of treatment - human activity develops more and more in sense to deal with this problem.

The applicant for this patent has always paid attention to the need to combine industrial activity with the conservation of the environment, which he designed and developed the invention presented here which aims to profit from the richest materials, which, paradoxically are usually wasted and also constitute a strong aggression for the environment when they are removed from industries , markets where fish are sold, butcheries and slaughterhouses without proper treatment.

Prior art

The already existing ovens for treating organic residues use methods in which the steam is used for the treatment of the same residues, to allow the extraction of unctuous substances, which has the energy disadvantage of spending a considerable amount amount of energy to evaporate the water, and also to remove the water from the residues, which comes from the condensation of this same vapor, with the humidity inherent in these residues.

In addition, the water vapor which has not been condensed must be treated later so that it can remove its odors and separate the vapors from the fats which form during the treatment time.

Brief description of the drawings

The oven in question, which operates without using steam injection because it works dry, is essentially composed of an enveloping carcass, inside which a drum slowly rotates which encloses the product we want treating and wrapping an axis provided with several blades and a scraper which has the function of avoiding sticking of the material in transformation to the interior surface of the drum during its treatment. Despite this same axis coinciding with the axis of the drum it is not united with it, but it turns anyway.

The advantages of the oven presented here reside in the fact that there is no injection of steam on the material which one wants to transform and consequently in the fact that one avoids an energy expenditure inherent in the production of steam, giving the possibility of using materials that are less resistant to heat and humidity (and logically less expensive), once there is less vapor in the transformation, since in this case the vapor that exists inside from the chamber will be exclusively the vapor which results from one evaporation of a part of the humidity of the products in transformation.

Brief description of the drawings

The attached drawing is presented as an example and not with a limiting objective, it shows the best way to carry out the present invention, where the drum (A) and the axis (B) are actuated respectively by the geared motors (C) and (D) and by pairs of gears (E), where the axis is supported on bearings (F), which are inside the two sleeves (G) of the covers (H) of the aforementioned drum.

We can also see in this drawing the flakes (I), the cutting blades (J), integral with the axis already mentioned, the scraper (L), the boilers (M), the resistors, the heating tubes , or the burners (N), the two-part body of the oven (0), the outlet for liquids (P), and the outlet for gases (Q) in a cleaning filter, which operates, for example, by a wet process.

Best way to realize the invention The cylindrical drum (A) already mentioned has circular lines in the covers (H) which exist in its ends - which are attached to the drum already attached by a few points which cause small interruptions in the lines already mentioned - these same lines are vertically aligned with the inlets of the two tubes (M) for collecting the liquid part (aqueous and unctu¬ ous) of the material to be transformed.

For loading the oven, raise the upper part of the carcass (O) and remove the drum (A), which is loaded outside the oven, either by the middle of one of these ends (H), or it in the middle of a window with a cover in its cylindrical surface, which by a question of simplification is not presented in the drawing.

The oven, during its operation, has two distinct phases.

In the first phase, the drum (A) after being loaded with the product to be processed, turns slowly, so that it slightly agitates the product already added, at the same time as it is heated, to allow the release of its liquid part (either aqueous or unctuous) that, by gravity, falls into a casing (M) to collect liquids through the middle of the lines that exist in the drum.

During this phase, the inner axis (B) does not move, the scraper (L) is in the highest position, and it only serves to help promote the movement of the material that strikes against these blades (J), which are also stopped, and also to scrape the inside of the drum (A) so that the product which flows inside can be removed as it dries. The second phase begins when the liquid stops falling through the lines. Then, the internal axis (B), like the respective blades and the scraper (L), move and rotate with a high velocity so that it strongly agitates the product that exists in the drum - which, in this phase, is already in a pasty form - with the aim of promoting the separation of the moisture that this product still has, either by the cutting action of the blades (J), or by the centrifugal force exerted on the product to be dried, especially due to the dragging action accomplished by the scraper (L) that, in order not to project the product already mentioned outside the drum, through the center of the lines, has a smaller extension than the drum so that it has no action in the area of the lines already mentioned.

During this phase, the drum (A) maintains its rotational movement to allow not only a uniformly warm product inside, but also that the product is completely stirred, without causing an accumulation in this same area of the drum and consequently to prevent the product from slipping through the lines of the same drum.

Thus, this slow rotational movement also makes it possible to clean the lines in the vicinity of which the product has accumulated, namely in the edge of the side covers (H) of the drum, once in the upper side of the drum (A ) already attached there are two flakes (I), one in each line, which clean the existing product there, as this product, by accompanying the movement of the drum (A), strikes the flakes already reported , which take off and move the product from the walls of the covers (H) of the drum, after it falls again into the interior of the drum.

The glitter action (I) is further enhanced because the product attached to the same flakes is peeled off each time one of the points of union of the drum with the respective cover hits the flake, which bends when it passes, after it, due to its elastic composition, Abruptly returns to its original position and it is released from the material that can be attached, which falls into the interior of the drum.

On the other hand, there is a passage always open in each line, by action of the respective flake, and the vapor produced in the final phase of drying of the product leaves the drum (A) freely through these passages, of which there is no There is no risk of pressure increase inside the drum, which could have drawbacks not only in terms of equipment safety, but also in energy level, once if the pressure increases, the Evaporation temperature will also increase, which results in a greater expenditure of energy to remove moisture from the product.

Regarding bone transformation the second phase is not necessary - once as they are hard they do not tend to attach to the walls of the drum and its weight and sufficient for them to be agitated suitably and can be released from water and fat - which they do not end up in powder like other products, ie those which are initially presented in a pasty or coagulated state.

Another way of carrying out the present invention consists in an oven in which the drum (A) is open in the upper side, this same drum has a cross section with the shape of a "U" which does not allow it to rotate , on the other hand it performs an alternating rotary movement, with an angular amplitude small enough so that its content is not discharged. In this case, the loading of the drum is carried out directly, without it being removed from the oven, and the unloading is done by the bottom of the oven - for example by the middle of a rolling carpet - by turning the drum of 180Ω. which causes the discharge of its contents, by which warmly is lateral and not by the bottom as in the embodiment previously described.

The advantage of this embodiment of the invention is that it gives the possibility of automatically loading and unloading the oven.

Claims

Claims 1 - Oven for the treatment and profit of organic and inorganic matter, by a dry process, and respective process, where the oven is characterized by having a rotary drum with the configuration of a circular cylinder, where there is, near the covers which constitute its ends, circular lines and by having, inside this drum, a motorized axis and provided with cutting blades, which can rotate independently of the drum. 2 - Oven according to claim 1, characterized by some of the blades of the axis to be connected together by a scraper which cleans the internal surface of the drum. 3 - Oven according to claim 1, characterized by having two flakes of elastic material which are located in the upper region of the lines of the drum, by having two liquid collection tubes aligned vertically with the lines already mentioned which are placed under the drum and by having an outlet for exhausting gases and steam from the oven. 4 - Oven according to the preceding claims characterized by having, both a closed drum, an open drum according to a generator having an oscillating rotational movement with an angle less than 180. 5 - Oven for the treatment and profit of organic and inorganic matter, by a dry process, and the respective process, where the process is characterized by its dry realization, that is to say, without adding steam which is not what results from the products which one wants to treat, and by drying to take place at the same time as the products are agitated, initially gently and later - with the exception of the case where the products are hard - with violence.