Transverse- flow pyrocatalytic reactor for conversion of waste plastic material and scrap rubber
United States Patent Application 20090078557
A process for converting organic waste into reusable hydrocarbons and a system for doing so, the system including a feeding mechanism for the waste, a reactor and a residue-disposing mechanism. The waste is to be fed into the reactor in which a molten lead bath is confined in an oxygen-free atmosphere.
The system is used to practice a process for the pyrocatalytic conversion of the waste, which process comprises, feeding the waste into a reaction zone of a pyrocatalytic reactor, the waste being essentially free of a halogenated synthetic resinous material, and mixing the waste with a minor proportion by weight of a particulate catalyst in the bath held at a temperature in the range from about 450° C. to 550° C. in an elongated vat.
The catalyst consists essentially of a major proportion by weight of particulate bauxite <2 mm, in combination with a minor proportion of aluminum powder <0.1 mm having a minimum nominal aluminum content of at least 95%, preferably at least 98%, and a Fe content of less than 0.5% and Si less than 0.2%. Between the feed-inlet or “charging” end of the vat where waste from the feeding mechanism enters and the “residue-discharging” or “discharging” end of the vat where the residue is delivered to the residue-disposing mechanism, a combination of plural rotating drums with radially protruding fingers in cooperation with gratings, provide the necessary mixing and urging action and contact time. The waste in the molten lead is urged along the vat's longitudinal axis starting near the charging end of the vat. The length of the vat is sufficient to afford a residence time for the waste of no more than one hour in the vat, and the depth of molten lead in it is at least 10 cm, preferably 30 cm above the surfaces of heating tubes disposed in the molten lead. Thus, the waste is thermally and catalytically converted with at least 60% effectiveness into reusable hydrocarbons which are removed as vapor from above the melt in the reaction zone and recovered as reusable hydrocarbons.
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