Title of Invention

"A PROCESS FOR INCINERATING REFUSE DERVED FUEL MATERIAL AND AN INCINERATING PLANT THEREFOR"

Abstract A process for incinerating refuse derived fuel material to obtain fuel gas therefrom by thermal cracking, comprises: - subjecting said material to deaeration and advancing a bed of said material within a vacuum environment insulated from the outside (thermal cracking chamber) while maintaining a temperature of 400°C and 600°C by the countercurrent flow of hot gases which lap the material; - feeding the material from the thermal cracking chamber (5) to a reactor (7) maintained at 1200°C to 1800°C; - in proximity to the entry end of the thermal cracking chamber, drawing off the gases generated together with the gases which have lapped the bed of material, in order to maintain the thermal cracking chamber under vacuum; - feeding the drawn-off gases to the discharge conduit (72) for the gases generated in the reactor; and purifying and filtering the gases obtained for use as fuel gases.
Full Text -1-
Description
A PROCESS FOR INCINERATING REFUSE DERIVED FUEL MATERIAL AND AN INCINERATING PLANT THEREFOR
Technical field
This invention concerns a process for incinerating refuse derived fuel material
and an incinerating plant therefor, used in the refuse disposal sector in
compliance with those regulations which protect the integrity of the environment.
Background Art
The types of refuse which need disposal cover a very wide range, and require
the use of very complex and different disposal techniques. With this range of refuse types, that are commonly known as RDF, or refuse derived fuel, or alternative fuel is of particular importance. RDF basically results from a sorting procedure by which all the incombustible components, such as iron, glass, aluminium, inert materials and anything else not contemplated by the rules governing RDF, including organic fractions generally consisting of food residues and other putrescible materials, are separated out.
The remainder is commonly derived fuel, or RDF. RDF is currently treated in so-called incinerators, by which it is reduced into ash and gaseous combustion products.
Gaseous combustion products are highly polluting because they contain oxides of various types which are themselves toxic. The most common oxides are carbon monoxide, sulphur oxides and in particular nitrogen oxides. At the exit of incinerators of known type, means for treating said oxides must be provided, thereby resulting in increased plant costs and hence increased disposal costs.

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US 4,762,074 discloses a process for incinerating combustible materials ensuring that there is enough oxygen to reduce all the hydrocarbons as well as dioxines and furans to their more harmless precursors.
This is attained by feeding to incineration chamber enriched air containing an amount of about from 30 to 35% instead of the normal oxygen content of the air (23, 19%).
The process disclosed in said US'074 involves very high operating and plant costs and does not generate combustion products that can be re-utilized in the form of fuel gas.
One object of the present invention is to provide an RDF treatment plant which has much lower operating costs than known plants, and generates combustion products which are non-polluting or of very low pollution, and can be partly reutilized in the form of fuel gas.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a process for incinerating RDF material which overcomes the drawbacks of prior art and produces gases which can be used as fuel gases. Disclosure of the invention
These objects are attained basically by deaerating the material to be treated before subjecting it to high temperature thereby drastically reducing oxide formation.
According to the invention, the material is subjected to high temperature under strong vacuum in order to facilitate thermal cracking in the presence of little

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oxygen, with the formation of gases rich in organic components not completely
broken down.
This is obtained by feeding the material batchwise into a thermal cracking
chamber in which a strong vacuum is created by pump, this vacuum facilitating
the countercurrent entry of hot gases originating from a reactor in communication
with the exit section of the thermal cracking chamber. In this reactor a fluid bed
of ash is formed, above which oxygen or air is fed to achieve a further increase
in temperature, to increase the gasification of the RDF
Under normal working conditions the system is self-sustaining in the sense that
the necessary temperature is automatically created within the reactor, whereas
at the commencement of the cycle the process has to be triggered by an
auxiliary burner positioned in the reactor chamber.
The gas drawn from the thermal cracking chamber to create the vacuum therein
is enriched with oxygen to facilitate flameless oxidation of the volatile product,
and conveyed to the reactor discharge stack to be fed to subsequent treatment
before being reused as fuel gas.
In this respect, the gas leaving the reactor is rich in gaseous chlorine and dust
composed both of the primary ash leaving the reactor, and powder deriving from
unburnt material.
To eliminate said undesirable components, it is fed into a scrubber provided with
a filter, and to which calcium carbonate is also fed to neutralize the chlorine. The
scrubber filter then collects a pollutant product destined for a suitable dump, it
being rich in chlorine. At the scrubber exit the gas can thus be
used as a fuel, if necessary after passage through one or more sleeve filters for

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final removal of residual dust.
The merits and characteristics of the invention will be apparent
from the ensuing detailed description, illustrated by the figure
of the accompanying drawing and concerning a plant for
implementing the process, given by way of non-limiting example.
Figure 1 is a scheme of the plant according to the invention.
The figure shows a feed cylinder 1 in which a piston 2 is
sliding]y driven.
Said cylinder is closed at the opposite end to the piston by a
valve 3, and is connected to an upper hopper 4 in which the RDF to
be treated, reduced to a suitable size, is contained.
In the loading region 30, close to the closure valve 3, there are
provided means for creating a slight vacuum, using a vacuum pump
31 which puts the material under slight vacuum at a pressure of
between 450 and 550 mm Hg, so deaerating it.
Deaeration of the material is necessary to reduce the presence of
nitrogen, and consequently of nitrogen oxides NOx in the thermal
cracking fumes.
The cylinder communicates via the valve 3 with the thermal
cracking chamber 5, which is generally of decreasing
semicylindrical section in shape and opens into the expansion
region 73 of the gas discharge conduit 72 of the actual reactor 7.
This latter consists of a vessel 71 of suitable very high
temperature-resistant material, from the top of which there
branches the conduit 72, and into which two conduits 74 enter for
feeding oxygen and air, plus an auxiliary burner 75.
The number of conduits 74 can also be other than two.
At a certain level, which defines the quantity of ash present in
the reactor in fluid form, an overflow conduit extends from the
reactor chamber to open into a water-filled tank 77, in which the
ash is quenched, to be then withdrawn by a belt conveyor 78,
At the entry to the thermal cracking chamber 5, a vacuum pump 31
countercurrently withdraws the gases which enter the chamber 5
from the region 73 of the conduit 72, to maintain the chamber 5
under vacuum.
The temperature of the gases flowing through the chamber 5 is

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between 500°C and 700°C, and maintains the temperature at which thermal cracking of the material takes place at between 400°C and 600°C.
The vacuum pump 51 feeds the withdrawn gases to the expansion region 73 of the conduit 72, these gases before reaching the conduit 72 being enriched with oxygen, at the point 52, to facilitate flameless oxidation of the volatile products. After the expansion region 73 the conduit 72 leads into a scrubber 8, in which not only is the gas temperature reduced, with consequent reduction in gas volume, but in addition the ash entrained by the gases and the unburnt powder are removed. Calcium carbonate for treating the chlorine is also fed into the scrubber 8, resulting in the formation and deposition of calcium chloride CaCl.
The operation of the plant is as follows.
At the commencement of the cycle, already deaerated material to be treated is fed into the thermal cracking chamber, the reaction in the reactor being triggered by the auxiliary burner 75. When the material gasification process within the reactor has progressed to an extent sufficient to be self-sustaining, aided by the temperature increase due to the feeding of oxygen, ozone or air through the conduits 74, the burner can be extinguished. The gases originating from the reactor pass from the expansion region of the reactor discharge conduit to lap the material lying in the thermal cracking chamber 5, by virtue of the vacuum created in this latter by the vacuum pump 51.
The material hence begins to gasify by virtue of the pyrolisis process under oxygen deficiency, the gas being pumped by the pump 51 into said discharge conduit 72 downstream of the thermal cracking chamber.
By way of example, it can be stated that the temperature in the thermal cracking chamber is about 500°C, and must preferably lie between 400 and 600°C.
The material originating from the thermal cracking chamber 5, thrust by the fresh material fed in at intervals by the piston 2, falls into the chamber of the reactor 7.

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Inside the thermal cracking chamber 5 there forms a bed of ash which reduces the area of communication between this chamber and the gas discharge conduit 72, so that the action of the vacuum pump 51 gradually becomes more effective.
By way of example it can be stated that with a thermal cracking chamber of volume 8 m3, an RDF quantity of the order of 1000 kg/hour can be treated, to obtain a fuel gas volume of about 3500 Nm3 characterised by a calorific value of between 2000 and 3000 kCal/Nm3, corresponding to an RDF calorific value of about 5000 kCal/kg.

-6-WE CLAIM :
1. A process for incinerating refuse derived fuels to obtain fuel gas therefrom by thermal cracking, comprising :
- subjecting the material to deaeration at a pressure of between 450 and 550 mm Hg;
- advancing a bed of material within a vacuum environment insulated from the outside (thermal cracking chamber) and in which a temperature of between 400* C and 600°C is maintained by the countercurrent flow of hot gases which lap the material;
- feeding the material which has passed through the thermal cracking chamber to a reactor in order to be subjected to a temperature of between 1200°C and 1800°C;
- in proximity to the entry end of said thermal cracking chamber, drawing off the gases generated by the thermal cracking together with the gases which have lapped the bed of material, in order to maintain the thermal cracking chamber under vacuum ;
- feeding the drawn-off gases to the discharge conduit for the gases generated in the reactor; and
- purifying and filtering the gases obtained in this manner for use as fuel gases.

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2. A process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said hot gases which pass through the thermal cracking chamber in countercurrent are derived from the stream of gases generated by the reactor.
3. A process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said hot gases which pass through the thermal cracking chamber in countercurrent have a temperature of between 500°C and 700°C.
4. A process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said gases drawn from the thermal cracking chamber are enriched with oxygen for flameless oxidation of the volatile products.

5. A process as claimed in claim 1, wherein said material which falls into the reactor chamber is subjected to the action of a burner only at the initial trigerring stage of the process.
6. A process as claimed in claim 5, wherein after the triggering, the material lying in the reactor chamber is subjected to a feed of oxygen, with simultaneous increase in the temperature up to between 1200°C and 1800°C.
7. A process as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein said gases produced in the reactor chamber together with the gases withdrawn from the

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thermal cracking chamber are subjected to a scrubbing operation in water to remove the ash.
8. A process as claimed in claim 7, wherein simultaneously with the scrubbing, calcium carbonate is added to the material to reduce the chlorine.
9. A process as claimed in claim 7 or 8, wherein said gas leaving the scrubber is further subjected to filtration.
10. An incinerating plant for refuse derived fuel material, comprising : a thermal cracking chamber ; means for feeding the material to said cracking chamber ; means for creating vacuum in said cracking chamber ; a reactor for receiving the material which has passed through the thermal cracking chamber; an expansion chamber located between the discharge conduit of the reactor and the thermal cracking chamber; means for bringing the material in the reactor to high temperature ; and upstream of the thermal cracking chamber, a material deaeration chamber which is separated from the thermal cracking chamber by a seal valve.
11. A plant as claimed in claim 10, wherein the means for creating vacuum
comprises a conduit connecting the region of the thermal cracking chamber
close to the seal valve separating the cracking chamber from the deaeration
chamber to the reactor discharge conduit downstream of the expansion

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chamber, and a pump which draws the gases from said region of the cracking chamber.
12. A plant as claimed in claim 10, wherein a normal gas burner is provided in the lower part of said reactor.
13. A plant as claimed in claim 10, wherein said reactor is connected to a source of oxygen.
A process for incinerating refuse derived fuel material to obtain fuel gas therefrom by thermal cracking, comprises:
- subjecting said material to deaeration and advancing a bed of said material within a vacuum environment insulated from the outside (thermal cracking chamber) while maintaining a temperature of 400°C and 600°C by the countercurrent flow of hot gases which lap the material;
- feeding the material from the thermal cracking chamber (5) to a reactor (7) maintained at 1200°C to 1800°C;
- in proximity to the entry end of the thermal cracking chamber, drawing off the gases generated together with the gases which have lapped the bed of material, in order to maintain the thermal cracking chamber under vacuum;
- feeding the drawn-off gases to the discharge conduit (72) for the gases generated in the reactor; and purifying and filtering the gases obtained for use as fuel gases.

Documents:


Patent Number 206189
Indian Patent Application Number IN/PCT/2002/00917/KOL
PG Journal Number 16/2007
Publication Date 20-Apr-2007
Grant Date 20-Apr-2007
Date of Filing 15-Jul-2002
Name of Patentee RE. D.E. S.P.A.
Applicant Address VIA CARISIO, 65, I-137136 VERONA ITALY.
Inventors:
# Inventor's Name Inventor's Address
1 CABRINI CLEMENTINO PIAZZA POZZA, 15, I-37100 VERONA, ITALY
PCT International Classification Number C10B 53/00
PCT International Application Number PCT/EP01/01716
PCT International Filing date 2001-02-15
PCT Conventions:
# PCT Application Number Date of Convention Priority Country
1 RE2000A000009 2000-02-18 Italy