Apparatus to convert organic waste into syngas while manufacturing glass products and method thereof

Abstract

This invention relates to using a production glass furnace to melt waste glass and other glass constituents thereby providing a radiant heat source within the furnace to efficiently gasify organic waste materials recovered from a variety of waste streams to thereby produce a synthesis gas (Syngas) that is comprised mostly of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and carbon dioxide that can be further refined and sold as a high value fuel. The gasification of the organic waste within the production glass furnace has minimal impact on the composition of the glass melt thus allowing for the production of the same range of glass products as if no organic waste was added to the furnace.

Claims

1. A furnace comprising: a hollow body closed to outside air; a means for charging the lower portion of said body with material; a means of heating said material to a liquid state while not disturbing air movement in upper portion of said body; a means for charging the upper portion of said body with waste that separates into gaseous and non-gaseous components when exposed to the heat radiating from heated said material; a means of supplying one or more of steam, air, natural gas, hydrogen, or oxygen to said waste; a means of removing said material; a means of removing said gaseous components; a means of removing said non-gaseous component; and a means of presenting said material to production equipment and producing commercially valuable products.

2. The furnace of claim 1 wherein said means of supplying one or more of steam, air, natural gas, oxygen, or hydrogen to said waste comprises one or more lower bubbler rings positioned below the surface level of said material and about the outer periphery of said body containing one or more tubes that protrude into and injects gas into said body.

3. The furnace of claim 2 wherein said lower bubbler rings contains one to sixteen tubes.

4. The furnace of claim 1 wherein said means of supplying one or more of steam, air, natural gas, oxygen, or hydrogen to said waste comprises one or more upper bubbler rings positioned above the surface level of said material and about the outer periphery of said body containing one or more tubes that protrude into and injects gas into said body.

5. The furnace of claim 4 wherein said upper bubbler rings contains one to sixteen tubes.

6. The furnace of claim 1 wherein said body is of such geometric shape so that said body lower portion contains said material and said body's upper portion is a void charged with said waste.

7. The furnace of claim 6 wherein said body is a cylinder.

8. The furnace of claim 6 wherein said body is rectangular.

9. The furnace of claim 6 wherein said body is octagonal.

10. The furnace of claim 6 wherein said body is square.

11. The furnace of claim 6 wherein said body is a sphere.

12. The furnace of claim 1 wherein said material is glass batch material.

13. The furnace of claim 1 wherein said means for charging lower portion of said body is a batch feeder positioned above the surface level of said material.

14. The furnace of claim 1 wherein said means for charging lower portion of said body is a batch pressure feeder positioned below the surface level of said material.

15. The furnace of claim 1 wherein said heating means comprises burners combusting natural gas with one or more of air, oxygen, or hydrogen positioned below said body.

16. The furnace of claim 1 wherein said heating means comprises side burners combusting natural gas with one or more of air, oxygen, or hydrogen positioned about the periphery of said body below the surface level of said material.

17. The furnace of claim 1 wherein said heating means comprises electrodes positioned along the sides of said body below the surface level of said material.

18. The furnace of claim 17 wherein said electrodes are constructed from molybdenum coated with zirconium-based oxide.

19. The furnace of claim 1 wherein said heating means comprises electrodes installed in a staggered arrangement around the periphery of said body.

20. The furnace of claim 1 wherein said waste is organic matter such as wood, paper, cardboard, yard waste, tree trimmings, food waste, animal waste, human waste, agricultural waste, forest slash, and other organic content of municipal solid waste.

21. The furnace of claim 1 wherein said means for charging upper portion of said body is a waste feeder.

22. The furnace of claim 1 wherein said means of removing said material comprises a channel to transport said material to a forehearth.

23. The furnace of claim 22 further comprising equipment to process said material into commercially valuable products.

24. The furnace of claim 1 wherein said means of removing said gaseous component comprises a vent positioned above the surface level of said material.

25. The furnace of claim 24 wherein said vent further comprises equipment to process said gaseous component into commercially valuable products.

26. The furnace of claim 1 wherein said means of removing said material and said gaseous component comprises a channel and forehearth wherein said gaseous component travels above said material.

27. The furnace of claim 26 wherein said channel is further divided into zones with each zone having its own heating means.

28. The furnace of claim 27 wherein said heating means for said channel consists of electrodes.

29. The furnace of claim 27 wherein the temperature of said zones are independently controlled.

30. The furnace of claim 26 further comprising equipment to process said material into commercially valuable products.

31. The furnace of claim 29 further comprising equipment to process said gaseous component into commercially valuable products.

32. A hollow body furnace closed to outside air consisting of a lower portion containing glass batch material and a upper portion being void the body comprising: one or more lower bubbler rings positioned about the outer periphery of said lower portion containing one or more tubes that protrude into and injects one or more of steam, air, natural gas, hydrogen, or oxygen into said body; one or more upper bubbler rings positioned about the outer periphery of said upper portion containing one or more tubes that protrude into and injects one or more of steam, air, natural gas, hydrogen, or oxygen into said body; a batch feeder positioned in said upper portion to charge said lower portion with glass batch material; a batch pressure feeder positioned in said lower portion to charge said lower portion with glass batch material; one or more burners combusting natural gas with air or air and oxygen positioned below said body; one or more side burners combusting natural gas with one or more of air, oxygen, or hydrogen positioned positioned about the periphery of said lower portion; one or more electrodes positioned about the periphery of said lower portion; a waste feeder positioned in said upper portion to charge said upper portion with organic waste that separates into gaseous and non-gaseous components when exposed to the heat radiating from heated said glass batch material; one or more channels positioned about the boundary of said lower and upper portions and leading away from said body to remove said gaseous component and melted said glass batch material in the channels: being divided into one or more independently electrode controlled temperature zones, having one or more vents at the end furthest from said body for said gaseous component to be captured, and having one or more production equipment at the end furthest from said body for said glass batch material to be captured and converted into commercially valuable products; and a slag removal device to capture said non-gaseous component.

33. A method for creating syngas from waste using a furnace comprising: charging the lower portion of said furnace with glass batch material; heating said glass batch material to a liquid state while not disturbing air movement above said glass batch material; charging the upper portion of said furnace with waste; supplying one or more of steam, air, oxygen, or hydrogen to said waste; allowing said waste to separate into a gaseous and a non-gaseous component when exposed to said glass batch material's radiant heat; capturing a portion of said glass batch material; capturing said gaseous component; and capturing said non-gaseous component.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein the step of charging the lower portion of said furnace with said glass batch material is performed by a glass batch feeder above the surface level of said glass batch material.

35. The method of claim 33 wherein the step of charging the lower portion of said furnace with said glass batch material is performed by a glass batch pressure feeder below the surface level of said glass batch material.

36. The method of claim 33 wherein the step of heating the furnace further comprises the steps: activating burners positioned about the periphery and underneath said furnace; waiting until said glass batch material has changed to a liquid; deactivating said burners; and activating electrodes that are positioned about the periphery of the furnace.

37. The method of claim 36 wherein said electrodes are inserted into the furnace after deactivating said burners.

38. The method of claim 36 wherein said heating step is capable of heating the furnace to a temperature of at least 1000 F.

39. The method of claim 33 where in the step of supplying one or more of steam, air, oxygen, or hydrogen to said waste is performed by one or more bubbler rings.

40. The method of claim 33 wherein said charging the upper portion of said furnace is controlled by rotary valve at an adjustable rate.

41. The method of claim 33 wherein the step of capturing a portion of said glass batch material further comprises the steps of: continuously feeding said glass batch material at a controlled rate into said furnace so that the surface of said glass batch material enters a channel and moves therethrough; and presenting said glass batch material to glass production equipment at the end of said channel.

42. The method of claim 33 wherein the step of capturing said gaseous component comprises a vent at the top of said furnace.

43. The method of claim 33 wherein the step of capturing said gaseous component further comprises the steps of: passing said gaseous component conjointly with glass batch material through a channel that is divided into zones; heating a said zone to an appropriate temperature using electrodes; and capturing said gaseous component by a vent at the far end of said channel.

44. The method of claim 33 wherein the step of capturing said non-gaseous component comprises a slag removal device.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0020] The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description and accompanying drawings, wherein:

[0021] FIG. 1 is a cross sectional view of the preferred embodiment of the furnace according to the present invention.

[0022] FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view of a secondary embodiment of the furnace according to the present invention.

[0023] FIG. 3 is an isometric view of the body of the furnace with many components removed to show detail of the bubbler rings.

[0024] FIG. 4 is a flowchart depicting the process of preparing and melting glass batch material to a liquid state for use in the manufacture of commercial glass products while simultaneously using the waste heat from such process to gasify organic waste to produce syngas from the same glass furnace.

[0025] FIG. 5 is a flowchart depicting the process of heating the glass batch material to a liquid state in the furnace.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0026] The following description of the preferred embodiment(s) is merely exemplary in nature and is in no way intended to limit the invention, its application, or uses.

[0027] FIG. 1 shows a cross sectional view of the preferred embodiment of furnace 10 of the present invention. Furnace 10 is basically comprised of two major components, body 12 and channel 46. Body 12 may further be divided into two portions, lower portion 14 and upper portion 16. In the preferred embodiment body 12 is cylindrical and is vertical along its axis but other geometric configurations are possible such as rectangular, elliptical, and other multisided shapes as long as body 12 may be characterized into lower portion 14 and upper portion 16. Lower portion 14 is filled with glass batch material 18 which may consist of waste glass originating from municipal solid waste that contains a variety of glass wastes such as bottles, dinnerware, window glass, and the like; standard glass batch material known in the art of glass making; or from a combination of both waste glass and glass batch material. For the purpose of this disclosure the term glass batch material may refer to waste glass, glass batch material, or a combination of both. The surface level of melted glass batch material 18 defines the boundary between lower portion 14 and upper portion 16 and is referred to as glass surface line 20. Although lower portion 14 and upper portion 16 are shown in FIG. 1 as occupying a similar percentage of body 12 this is not a limitation.

[0028] At the base of body 12 are shown three submerged burners 22 combusting natural gas with one or more of hydrogen, oxygen, or air. Submerged burners enhance heat transfer by mixing the fuels and oxidant produced by submerged burners 22 directly into and under the surface of glass batch material 18 being melted. Placing submerged burners 22 in the base of body 12 results in improved heat transfer and vigorous convective stirring of the melt. The three submerged burners 22 are shown as an example and the actual count may vary depending upon the size of body 12.

[0029] Depending upon the size of body 12 side burners 24 may be employed to assist submerged burners 22 in melting glass batch material 18 within lower portion 14. Similar to submerged burners 22, side burners 24 also combust natural gas with one or more of hydrogen, oxygen, or air and the actual count varies depending upon the size of body 12. However once glass batch material 18 melts and achieves a certain viscosity, submerged burners 22 and side burners 24 are to be turned off and electrodes 26 are to be turned on.

[0030] Glass batch material 18 conducts electricity once it has melted and electrodes 26 may heat glass batch material directly by passing an electrical current through the molten glass batch material 18. Electrodes 26 are commonly made from molybdenum as molybdenum is less affected by oxidation at the high temperatures found in glass melting furnaces and provides a reasonably long and reliable life. Electrode lifespan may be further increased by coating the electrodes with a zirconium based oxide. It is important to turn off submerged burners 22 and side burners 24 because of their vigorous convective stirring of melted glass batch material 18 is disruptive to the ambient air in upper portion 16, and their use adversely impacts the reliability and life of electrodes 26. It is important, for the purposes of this disclosure, that the ambient air in upper portion 16 is left undisturbed to the extent possible.

[0031] About the perimeter of body 12 and below glass surface line 20 is lower bubbler ring 32. Lower bubbler ring 32 is a tube encircling the perimeter of body 12 with one or more nozzles projecting through body 12 and into glass batch material 18. By feeding one or more of hydrogen, oxygen, air, or steam into the tube the same may be fed into melted glass batch material 18. Introducing one or more of hydrogen, oxygen, air, or steam into the organic waste is part of the gasification process of the organic waste. FIG. 3 shows body 12 with lower bubbler ring 32 and upper bubbler ring 44 about glass surface line 20 with roof 36 removed to show the nozzles projecting within body 12. Nozzles may be all of the same length or the lengths between nozzles may vary.

[0032] At the base of body 12 is lower glass batch material feeder 28 that is used to feed glass batch material 18 into body 12 to replace glass batch material 18 that is withdrawn along channel 46 and passed out through glass melt feeder 60 and into glass production equipment 62. Also at the base of body 12 is slag receiver 30 that is used to draw off organic waste that has not gasified. Slag recovered from body 12 may be diverted to a storage and processing area where it may be granulated to be used as highway roadbed material or other uses, or its chemistry may be modified to provide a new glass that can be processed into other glass and/or glass ceramic materials. These may include high temperature fibers or high strength fracking beads or alkali free concrete components and structures, and the such. Finally, to prolong the operational life of body 12, refractory material 34 provides a layer of thermal protection to the inside walls of body 12 while water jacket 35 positioned outside and about body 12 operates to cool body 12. Examples of possible refractory materials include mullite brick, zircon brick, alumina bubble brick, sillimanite brick, corundum brick, fireclay brick, high alumina brick, and others.

[0033] Upper portion 16 is bounded by glass surface line 20 and roof 36. Any gap between roof 36 and body 12 is sealed by roof seal 37. It is important that upper portion 16 is isolated from the air and air movement outside of body 12. Once glass batch material 18 has melted and has reached a certain temperature the gasification process may begin by feeding organic waste 42 from waste feeder 40 into upper portion 16. Organic waste 42 must be dropped from above glass surface line 20 into an ambient air space that is free from disruptive air movements so that organic waste may freely fall through upper portion 16. As organic waste 42 is falling, upper bubbler ring 44, consisting of a tube that may be supplied with one or more of hydrogen, oxygen, air, or steam along with one or more nozzles that project into body 12, may inject one or more of hydrogen, oxygen, air, or steam into the falling mass of organic waste 42 as part of the gasification process. FIG. 3 shows body 12 with lower bubbler ring 32 and upper bubbler ring 44 above glass surface line 20 with roof 36 and roof seal 37 removed to show the nozzles projecting within body 12. Nozzles may be all of the same length or the lengths between nozzles may vary. Upper glass batch material feeder 38 may be used to replenish glass batch material 18 that has been withdrawn along channel 46 and passed out through glass melt feeder 60 and into glass production equipment 62.

[0034] About glass surface line 20 is channel 46 to lead melted glass batch material 18 away from body 12 and towards glass melt feeder 60 where glass batch material 18 is then presented to glass production equipment 62. Channel 46 is also used to draw syngas produced by the gasification process occurring in upper portion 16 to travel above glass batch material 18 and into forehearth syngas vent 58. Channel 46 is divided into one or more zones wherein each zone contains one or more electrodes 26 that are controlled independently of electrodes in the remaining zones. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, channel 46 contains five zones: 48, 50, 52, 54, and 56. Glass batch material 18, being in close contact with the syngas, may further operate on the syngas passing above it working to remove tar and other contaminants by further exposing the syngas to the high temperatures of glass batch material 18. Electrodes 26 within each zone may raise and lower the temperature of the glass batch material passing through that zone.

[0035] FIG. 2 shows a second embodiment of the furnace of the invention. Here furnace 64 is shown which is identical to furnace 10 with the exception of roof vent 66 and chute 33. Roof vent 66 is used to vent syngas within upper portion 16 that is not drawn into channel 46. Syngas drawn by roof vent 66 does not receive the benefit of the syngas refinement process within channel 46 thus will have higher amounts of tar and other contaminants. Chute 33 allows glass batch material 18 to flow from upper glass batch material feeder 38 to lower glass batch material feeder 28 where glass batch material 18 is then pressure fed into lower portion 14.

[0036] FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of the preferred method of the present invention. Step 102 is to charge lower portion 14 of body 12 with glass batch material 18 to glass surface line 20. This is to be accomplished by introducing glass batch material from upper glass batch material feeder 28, but lower glass batch material feeder 28 may also be used if pre-existing glass batch material 18 is granular or the melted glass has a viscosity of log four to log five. Once body 12 has been charged to glass surface line 20 with glass batch material 18 step 104 will activate heaters within body 12 to melt glass batch material 18 to an appropriate temperature and viscosity and maintain that temperature and viscosity without creating any disturbance of the ambient air within upper portion 16. It is important that the ambient air within upper portion 16 is undisturbed and that the heat radiating from glass batch material 18 is allowed to radiate uniformly and cool during its upward movement within upper portion 16. Once the ambient conditions within upper portion 16 are properly set and there is no air movement other than the air movement caused by the heat radiating from melted glass batch material 18, step 106 will be to charge upper portion 16 with organic waste 42 using organic waste feeder 40. Step 108 depicts organic waste 42 as it falls through upper portion 16. Heat radiating from melted glass batch material 18 along with one or more of hydrogen, oxygen, air,or steam from upper bubbler ring 44 will cause organic waste 42 to separate into a gaseous component and a non-gaseous component with the gaseous component comprised primarily of carbon monoxide, hydrogen and carbon dioxide but with small additional quantities of methane, nitrogen, argon and other trace constituents and the non-gaseous component comprised primarily of ash. Steps 110, 114, and 118 occur simultaneously. In step 110 the melted glass batch material 18 is removed from body 12 through channel 46. As melted glass batch material 18 leaves body 12 into channel 46 additional glass batch material 18 will be added to lower portion 14 to maintain the amount of melted glass batch material 18 at glass surface line 20. Step 112 depicts the transfer of melted glass batch material 18 from channel 46 to glass production equipment 62 to convert the melted glass batch material 18 from a melted form into a form with market value such as glass fibers, reflective beads, cleaning and polishing glass beads, glass beads for atomizing and mixing in spray cans, or other products such as fritted glass to be used as strengthening agents in plastic and cement. Step 114 depicts the removal of the gaseous component by forehearth vent 58 in furnace 10 or by both forehearth vent 58 and roof vent 66 in furnace 64. If the gaseous component is removed via forehearth vent 58 it must travel through channel 46 and while doing so tars and other impurities that exist in the gaseous component may be removed by continued exposure to heat radiating from melted glass batch material 18 that also flows in channel 46 as depicted in step 116. Channel 46 may be divided into one or more zones with each zone having one or more independently controlled electrodes 26 and the temperature of the melted glass batch material 18 flowing in a zone may be altered by the presence of electrodes 26. At the proper temperature tar and other impurities will be consumed by the heat radiating from melted glass batch material 18 or will precipitate into melted glass batch material 18. The amount of tar or other impurities that may precipitate into melted glass batch material 18 is inconsequential. Step 118 involves the removal of the non-gaseous component which is typically ash but will contain other impurities and will be referred to as slag. The ash precipitates into melted glass batch material 18 to the bottom of body 12 where it may then be removed by slag receiver 30 for disposal, to produce ceramic glass beads for fracturing of products for the petroleum industry or it may be ground down to be used as highway roadbed material or for other uses.

[0037] FIG. 5 provides additional details into the process of melting the glass batch material 18 to a proper temperature and viscosity. The process starts with step 202 where submerged burners 22 and side burners 24 are activated to start the melting process. Glass batch material 18 does not conduct electricity while being in a solid state so electrodes may not be used. Submerged burners 22 and side burners 24 are powered by combustible gasses such as a mixture of natural gas and either air or oxygen. As submerged burners 22 and side burners 24 heat glass batch material 18 eventually glass batch material 18 will achieve a state where electricity may be conducted as shown in step 204. At this point submerged burners 22 and side burners 24 will be deactivated as shown in step 206. In step 208 electrodes 26 are activated for a number of reasons the primary being that the electrodes do not disturb melted glass batch material 18 to the extent that the burners do thus satisfying the requirement that the ambient air in upper portion 16 remain as calm as possible. The fact that electrodes are more efficient at heating melted glass batch material 18 and are more environmentally friendly than burners form secondary reasons for using electrodes over burners.

[0038] The composition of glass batch material 18 varies upon the nature of the glass that is to be produced by glass production equipment 62 which includes but is not limited to glass fibers, reflective beads, cleaning and polishing glass beads, glass beads for atomizing and mixing in spray cans, or other products such as fritted glass to be used as strengthening agents in plastic and cement. These compositions have been the subject of many patents including U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,998,361 and 7,189,671 both issued to Albert Lewis. Table 1 discloses typical compositional ranges of oxides for a variety of glass products.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Oxide Low High SiO.sub.2 35.0 84.0 Fe.sub.2O.sub.3 1.0 12.0 Al.sub.2O.sub.3 1.0 27.0 MgO 1.0 5.0 B.sub.2O.sub.3 3.0 10.0 Na.sub.2O 3.0 10.0 C.sub.2O 2.0 15.0 BaO 2.0 10.0 K.sub.2O 1.0 10.0 BeO 3.0 5.0

[0039] All patents and publications mentioned in this specification are indicative of the levels of those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains. All patents and publications are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference.

[0040] It is to be understood that while a certain form of the invention is illustrated, it is not to be limited to the specific form or arrangement herein described and shown. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention and the invention is not to be considered limited to what is shown and described in the specification and any drawings/figures included herein.

[0041] One skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the present invention is well adapted to carry out the objectives and obtain the ends and advantages mentioned, as well as those inherent therein. The embodiments, methods, procedures and techniques described herein are presently representative of the preferred embodiments, are intended to be exemplary and are not intended as limitations on the scope. Changes therein and other uses will occur to those skilled in the art which are encompassed within the spirit of the invention and are defined by the scope of the appended claims. Although the invention has been described in connection with specific preferred embodiments, it should be understood that the invention as claimed should not be unduly limited to such specific embodiments. Indeed, various modifications of the described modes for carrying out the invention which are obvious to those skilled in the art are intended to be within the scope of the following claims.