The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 15, 1994
Filed:
Dec. 01, 1993
Francois Tremblay, Quebec, CA;
Gilles R Turcotte, Quebec, CA;
Serge Lavoie, Quebec, CA;
Ghyslain Dube, Quebec, CA;
Sylvain P Tremblay, Quebec, CA;
Jean-Yves Fortin, Quebec, CA;
Alcan International Limited, Montreal, CA;
Abstract
A method of recovering an aluminum-containing metal from a scrap material containing the metal and an organic contaminant, such as paper, plastics, lacquer, paint or oil. The method involves creating a fluidized bed of solid particles, maintaining a zone of the bed at a temperature in the range of the melting point of the metal to 1000.degree. C., introducing the scrap material into the fluidized zone to cause decoating of the metal within a time in the range of 1 to 40 seconds, at least partially melting the metal, and removing the metal material from the fluidized bed. In this way, decoating and at least partial melting is achieved essentially at the same time for improved efficiency. Metals of different melting point may also be separated from each other by providing a series of temperature zones in the fluidized bed (or in a series of fluidized beds) of progressively increasing temperature. If a limited amount of oxygen is introduced into the bed, a combustible gas is produced that can be burned to extract its energy or can be stored for later use.