BRIQUETTES

Abstract

A briquette for use as a mineral charge in a cupola furnace for the production of mineral wool fibres is produced by combining: a) recycled waste mineral wool selected from i) waste mineral wool comprising uncured sugar containing binder, ii) waste mineral wool comprising cured binder, iii) waste mineral wool without binder and iv) combination thereof, b) cement, and c) additional sugar(s) to form a mouldable mixture and moulding and curing the mouldable mixture to form the briquette.

Claims

1.-13. (canceled)

14. A method of producing a briquette, suitable for use as a mineral charge in a cupola furnace for the production of mineral wool fibres, said method comprising: forming a mouldable mixture comprising a) recycled waste mineral wool, b) cement, and c) at least 10 parts by dry weight of sugar(s) with respect to 100 parts by dry weight of the cement; and moulding and curing the mouldable mixture to form the briquette.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the mouldable mixture comprises 10 to 40 parts by dry weight of sugar(s) per 100 parts by dry weight of cement.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the cement is selected from the group consisting of Portland cement, alumina cement and mixture thereof.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the sugar(s) are selected from the group consisting of dextrose, fructose, sucrose and high fructose corn syrup.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the recycled waste mineral wool comprises waste mineral wool comprising uncured sugar containing binder wherein the uncured sugar containing binder is selected from: i) an uncured sugar containing binder comprising reducing sugar(s) and nitrogen-containing compound(s); ii) an uncured sugar containing binder comprising curable reaction product(s) of reducing sugar(s) and nitrogen-containing compound(s); and iii) an uncured sugar containing binder comprising reducing sugar(s), nitrogen-containing compound(s) and curable reaction product(s) of reducing sugar(s) and nitrogen-containing compound(s).

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the recycled waste mineral wool comprises waste mineral wool comprising cured binder, wherein the cured binder comprises nitrogenous polymer, wherein the cured binder comprises greater than 2% by mass and less than 8% by mass nitrogen, and wherein the cured binder comprises melanoidins.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the mouldable mixture comprises 5 to 30 wt-% by dry weight of cement based on the total dry weight of the mouldable mixture.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the mouldable mixture comprises 30 to 85 wt-% by dry weight of recycled waste mineral wool based on the total dry weight of the mouldable mixture.

22. A briquette wherein the briquette is obtained by the method of claim 14.

23. A method of producing a mineral wool fibre insulation product comprising: producing a mineral melt by melting in a furnace a mineral charge comprising briquettes obtained by the method of claim 14; forming mineral wool fibres from the mineral melt; disposing a binder solution onto the mineral wool fibres; arranging the mineral wool fibres upon which a binder solution has been disposed to form a batt; and passing the batt through a curing oven to cure the binder solution to form the mineral wool fibre insulation product.

24. A method of producing a briquette, suitable for use as a mineral charge in a cupola furnace for the production of mineral wool fibres, said method comprising: combining: a) recycled waste mineral wool selected from i) waste mineral wool comprising uncured sugar containing binder, ii) waste mineral wool comprising cured binder, iii) waste mineral wool without binder and iv) combination thereof, b) cement, and c) additional sugar(s) to form a mouldable mixture; and moulding and curing the mouldable mixture to form the briquette.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the mouldable mixture comprises at least 10 parts by dry weight of sugar(s) per 100 parts by dry weight of cement.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the mouldable mixture comprises at least 10 parts by dry weight of the additional sugar(s) per 100 parts by dry weight of cement.

27. The method of claim 24, wherein the mouldable mixture comprises 10 to 40 parts by dry weight of sugar(s) per 100 parts by dry weight of cement.

28. The method of claim 24, wherein the cement is selected from the group consisting of Portland cement, alumina cement and mixture thereof.

29. The method of claim 24, wherein the sugar(s) from: waste mineral wool comprising uncured sugar containing binder, and/or additional sugar(s) comprise one or more sugar(s) selected from the group consisting of dextrose, fructose, sucrose and high fructose corn syrup.

30. The method of claim 24, wherein the recycled waste mineral wool comprises waste mineral wool comprising uncured sugar containing binder wherein the uncured sugar containing binder is selected from: i) an uncured sugar containing binder comprising reducing sugar(s) and nitrogen-containing compound(s); ii) an uncured sugar containing binder comprising curable reaction product(s) of reducing sugar(s) and nitrogen-containing compound(s); and iii) an uncured sugar containing binder comprising reducing sugar(s), nitrogen-containing compound(s) and curable reaction product(s) of reducing sugar(s) and nitrogen-containing compound(s).

31. The method of claim 24, wherein the recycled waste mineral wool comprises waste mineral wool comprising cured binder, wherein the cured binder comprises nitrogenous polymer, wherein the cured binder comprises greater than 2% by mass and less than 8% by mass nitrogen, and wherein the cured binder comprises melanoidins.

32. The method of claim 24, wherein the mouldable mixture comprises 5 to 30 wt-% by dry weight of the mouldable mixture.

33. The method of claim 24, wherein the mouldable mixture comprises 30 to 85 wt-% by dry weight of recycled waste mineral wool based on the total dry weight of the mouldable mixture.

Description

SIMPLIFIED BRIQUETTE EVALUATION

[0078] In order to evaluate the influence of the presence/quantity of sugar in regard of cement, compression strength (CS) after 1, 2, 6 and 8 days of storage under ambient conditions (between 20-25° C.) after processing, were measured for simplified briquettes containing different quantities of sugar to Portland cement CEM I 42.5N. Herein simplified briquettes means briquettes consisting of cement, sugar and water. The simplified briquettes have a cylindrical shape with a diameter of about 3 cm and a height of about 5 cm. The compressive strength values given in the tables are average values of three samples.

[0079] The compressive strength of the simplified briquettes were measured by breaking the simplified briquette in a compression-testing machine. The compressive strength is calculated from the failure load divided by the cross-sectional area resisting the load and reported in units of megapascals (MPa).

[0080] Table 1 and Table 2

[0081] Table 1 shows the quantities of the different components used for the production of the simplified briquettes. Table 2 shows the compressive strength for the different mixtures. In this first set of experiment the sugar component used is dextrose monohydrate (at a concentration of 90%). For mixtures 1 to 9, cement and dextrose monohydrate were mixed during 30s in a mixer before the addition of water and subsequently mixed during 60s in the mixer. The samples were produced from the mixture previously prepared.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 parts by dry weight of mass of the components (g) dextrose per 100 parts by dry dextrose Mix weight of cement cement monohydrate water 1 5 1000 g  55.6 g 600 g 2 7.5 1000 g  83.3 g 600 g 3 10 1000 g 111.1 g 600 g 4 12.5 1000 g 138.9 g 600 g 5 15 1000 g 166.7 g 600 g 6 17.5 1000 g 194.4 g 600 g 7 20 1000 g 222.2 g 600 g 8 22.5 1000 g 250.0 g 600 g 9 25 1000 g 277.8 g 600 g

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 parts by dry weight Day 1 Day 2 Day 6 of dextrose per 100 parts CS [MPa] CS [MPa] CS [MPa] Mix by dry weight of cement average average average 1 5 0.1 0.5 0.9 2 7.5 0.2 0.3 1.1 4 12.5 0.3 0.4 1.1 6 17.5 0.9 1.3 2.5 7 20 1.9 2.3 5.3 8 22.5 3.6 5.0 8.4 9 25 6.2 7.7 13.2 

[0082] Table 3 and Table 4

[0083] Table 3 shows the quantities of the different components used for the production of the simplified briquettes for a further series of tests. Table 4 shows the compressive strength for the different mixtures. In this second set of experiment the sugar component used is sucrose (at a concentration of 99.9%). Mixtures 10 to 12 were prepared following the same protocol as for mixtures 1 to 9.

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 parts by dry weight of sucrose per 100 parts mass of the components (g) mix by dry weight of cement cement sucrose water 10 10 1000 g 100 g 600 g 11 15 1000 g 150 g 600 g 12 20 1000 g 200 g 600 g

TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 parts by dry weight of Day 1 Day 2 Day 6 Day 8 sucrose per 100 parts by dry weight CS [MPa] CS [MPa] CS [MPa] CS [MPa] Mix of cement average average average average 10 10 1.2 1.4 1.9 2.8 11 15 1.7 2.1 3.8 4.0 12 20 1.7 2.6 3.5 4.4

[0084] Table 5 and Table 6

[0085] Table 5 shows the quantities of the different components used for the production of the simplified briquettes for another series of tests. Table 6 shows the compressive strength for the different mixtures. In this third set of experiment the sugar component used is HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) (at a concentration of 75%). For mixtures 13 to 16, the mix of HFCS with water is added to cement and the mixture is subsequently mixed during 60s in a mixer. The samples were produced.

TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 5 parts by dry weight of HFCS per 100 parts by dry weight of mass of the components (g) mix cement cement HFCS water 13  7 1000 g  93.3 g 576.7 g 14 10 1000 g 133.3 g 566.7 g 15 15 1000 g   200 g 550.0 g 16 20 1000 g 266.7 g 533.3 g

TABLE-US-00006 TABLE 6 parts by dry weight of HFCS Day 1 Day 2 Day 6 Day 8 per 100 parts by dry weight CS [MPa] CS [MPa] CS [MPa] CS [MPa] Mix of cement average average average average 13  7 0.4 0.6 1.1 14 10 0.7 0.9 1.6 1.9 15 15 1.1 1.5 2.1 2.3 16 20 4.0 5.2 7.5 8.8

[0086] For the results obtained in tables 2, 4 and 6, it is the variation of the compressive strength between the different samples that is interesting, not the value by itself. As it can be seen in the tables 2, 4 and 6, when the quantity of sugar is increased in the simplified briquettes, the compressive strength also increases, showing that sugar does not act anymore as a retardant for cement when the quantity of sugar in regard of cement is increased.

[0087] Table 7—Briquette Production

[0088] The briquettes were produced as follow:

[0089] Portland cement CEM I 42.5N, mineral wool waste; bauxite, dextrose monohydrate (dextrose monohydrate at a concentration of 90%) and water (to have a total water to cement ratio of 0.7 (including the 10% moisture of the waste) were thoroughly mixed.

[0090] The mixture was moulded, pressed and cured. The briquette was then stored during 3 days under ambient conditions. The compressive strength was subsequently measured.

TABLE-US-00007 17 18 19 20 21 cement (%) 15 16 16 17 18 mineral wool waste (%) 68 67 66 65 64 Bauxite (%) 14 14 14 14 14 Dextrose monohydrate (%) 3.33 3 3.56 3.78 4 CS after 3 days [MPa] 7.8 4.6 5.6 5.5 4.8

[0091] In experiments 17, 19, 20 and 21 there are 20 parts by dry weight of additional dextrose with respect to 100 parts by dry weight of the cement. In experiment 18, there is 16.9 parts by dry weight of additional dextrose with respect to 100 parts by dry weight of the cement.

[0092] As can be seen in Table 7, all the produced briquettes have a compressive strength of at least 3.5 MPa after 3 days and are suitable to be used as mineral charge for further production of mineral wool insulation product.

[0093] Sufficient mechanical strength is obtained for briquettes when the compressive strength is greater than 3.5 MPa. Greater compressive strengths than 3.5 MPa are not useful but are neither harmful for the briquettes.