Aluminum Company of America

Svedala Industries, Inc.

John N Lees, Jr

David W Rierson

Herman J Hittner

R Lee Byers

Ludmila Dinter-Brown

Allen B Beaudin

An industrial waste management facility (IWMF) for disposing of spent potlining includes a co-current gas-fired rotary kiln for containing a molten pool of spent potlining throughout the entire length of the rotary kiln from the inlet to the outlet, an ash quencher and cooler for receiving molten residue from the discharge end of the rotary kiln, a secondary combustion chamber, and a down-draft transition chamber for channeling discharge gases from the rotary kiln to the secondary combustion chamber. Pneumatic injection slingers feed and distribute spent potlining into the inlet end of the rotary kiln. A discharge dam provides a predetermined average depth of molten bath material in the rotary kiln over its entire length. A blended ratio of comminuted materials injected through the pneumatic injection slinger feeder is adjusted and controlled in response to signals received from a radiative optical kiln bath temperature measurement system. The IWMF recovers fluorides from discharge gases exiting the secondary combustion chamber, recycles the fluorides to the molten bath or pool of the rotary kiln, and collects and withdraws glass frit residue from the ash quencher and cooler.

Rotary kiln treatment of potliner

Waste management facility

A thermal treatment system for converting contaminants in soil to non-hazardous compounds. The system includes a combustion chamber in which the soils to be treated are heated to a temperature above the volatilization temperature of the contaminants in the soil. Reagents are injected into the gas stream above the soil which contains the volatized contaminants to interact with the inorganic contaminants to form solid particles that can be collected on a filter for safe disposal. The volatized organic contaminants are burned to form non-toxic combustion gases.

Method of capturing and fixing volatile metal and metal oxides in an

A system for the controlled safe shutdown of a hazardous waste incinerator upon loss of power. The system includes a primary combustion chamber and a secondary combustion chamber, a gas treatment system, and two standby power sources. One standby power source is available immediately for elements that cannot be shut down even for a second. The other standby power source is a heavy duty generator that takes a short time to get up to speed but is used to power elements that can be allowed to coast for a short time without causing damage to the equipment or the environment. The system includes an uninterruptable power source connected to continue supplying heat and air to the secondary combustion chamber and prevent opening an emergency vent stack cap and thereby prevent the unwanted discharge of gas from the system. At the same time that power is lost, a standby generator is activated to power other elements of the system such as the heavy duty fan that draws the gas through the combustion chambers, spray dryer reactor and filters. The standby generator is needed because the much heavier loads it powers could not be accommodated by the battery based uninterruptable power supply, and the fact that there can be a slight delay between loss of power and operation by the generator without damage to the system or the environment.

Emergency shutdown system for a hazardous waste incinerator

Growing community of inventors

Brookfield, WI, United States of America

John N Lees, Jr