Briquette used for the production of rock wool and method for the production of said briquette

Abstract

The present invention relates to a briquette used for the production of rock wool and method for the production of said briquette, wherein the briquette contains a raw material comprising rock wool waste having a fiber morphology; contains a non-fibrous inorganic binder, such as sodium silicate, to bind the raw material; and an activating agent accelerating the curing process of the briquetted raw material.

Claims

1. A briquette used for the production of rock wool, consisting of a raw material, a binder of the raw material and an activating agent accelerating the curing process of the briquetted raw material, wherein the raw material comprises rock wool waste having a fiber morphology, and the binder is a non-fibrous inorganic binder, such as sodium silicate.

2. The briquette used for the production of rock wool according to claim 1, wherein the rock wool waste in the fiber form has a density comprised between 0.18 and 0.99 g/cm.sup.3.

3. The briquette used for the production of rock wool according to claim 1, wherein the fibers of the rock wool waste have a diameter between 1 m and 30 m with a fiber length to fiber diameter ratio of at least 3:1.

4. The briquette used for the production of rock wool according to claim 1, wherein the raw material additionally comprises fines from residual materials and/or fuels of a residual origin.

5. The briquette used for the production of rock wool according to claim 4, wherein the raw material used has a percentage by weight of between 50% and 100% rock wool waste, between 0% and 50% of fines from residual materials, and between 0% and 50% of fuels of a residual origin.

6. The briquette used for the production of rock wool according to claim 1, wherein the proportion by weight of the sodium silicate binder is from 3% to 20% in relation to the total weight of the raw material.

7. The briquette used for the production of rock wool according to claim 1, wherein the proportion by weight of the sodium silicate binder is from 6% to 16% in relation to the total weight of the raw material.

8. The briquette used for the production of rock wool according to claim 1, wherein an ester is used as the activating agent in a percentage of 0% to 4% by weight in relation to the total weight of the raw material.

9. The briquette used for the production of rock wool according to claim 1, wherein carbon dioxide gas is used as the activating agent.

10. The briquette used for the production of rock wool according to claim 9, wherein the carbon dioxide gas used is an ambient gas present in the briquette storage area.

11. The briquette used for the production of rock wool according to claim 9, wherein the carbon dioxide gas used is an artificial gas supplied on the briquettes.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of manufacturing a briquette according to an embodiment of the invention.

(2) FIG. 2 shows a graph comparing an elemental composition of the rock wool waste and a briquette that has been briquetted with sodium silicate binder according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(3) FIG. 1 shows a non-limiting embodiment of a process for the generation of briquettes according to the present invention. In an installation (1) for the generation of rock wool, rock wool waste, coke fines and other raw materials which are reused for manufacturing new rock wool are generated. The rock wool waste and coke fines are stored, respectively, in a rock wool silo (2) and a coke fines silo (3).

(4) Torrefied biomass or another fuel of a residual origin which is stored in a torrefied biomass silo (5) is transported by means of external logistics (4). Each of the silos (2, 3, 5) in which the raw materials for the generation of briquettes are stored, are associated with respective weighing cells (6) which determine the suitable proportions of raw material that are introduced in a mixer (7).

(5) The raw material used for formation of the briquette can comprise rock wool or it can comprise rock wool with coke fines and/or torrefied biomass. More specifically, the rock wool used is in fiber form, the fibers having a diameter between 1 m and 30 m with a fiber length to fiber diameter ratio of at least 3:1. The density of the fibers used as raw material is comprised between 0.18 and 0.99 g/cm.sup.3.

(6) Therefore, the proportions by weight of raw material used at all times can range from 50% to 100% rock wool waste, from 0% to 10% coke fines, and from 0% to 50% torrefied biomass. The percentage by weight is represented with respect to the total weight of raw materials at the inlet of the mixer (7).

(7) A non-fibrous inorganic binder, specifically sodium silicate, which is used to bind the raw materials in solution, is stored in a binder tank (8). Sodium silicate is injected into the mixer (7) through a binder injection pump (9). Ester, which is introduced into the mixer (7) by means of an ester injection pump (11) in the case of using ester as the activating agent of the mixture located in the mixer (7), is stored in another tank (10).

(8) The amounts to be injected into the mixer (7) by the binder injection pump (9) and ester injection pump (11) are controlled by means of respective flow meters (12). Therefore, the proportion by weight of sodium silicate binder is from 3% to 20% in relation to the total weight of raw materials at the inlet of the mixer (7). Sodium silicate used as a binder allows producing briquettes which, once cured, have a glassy structure with a good degree of mechanical strength.

(9) The proportion by weight of the sodium silicate binder is preferably from 6% to 16% in relation to the total weight of the raw material used.

(10) When the activating agent to accelerate curing of the mixture is an ester, the percentage of ester in relation to the total weight of raw materials at the inlet of the mixer (7) is between 0% and 4%.

(11) Once the time necessary to homogenize the mixture has lapsed, a worm screw hopper (13) pours the mixture from the mixer (7) into a briquetting machine (14) shaping the briquettes.

(12) When an ester is not used as the activating agent, the possibility of a chamber (15) being arranged at the outlet of the briquetting machine (14) for exposing the briquettes to CO.sub.2 gas and a heater (16), which allow accelerating the kinetics for the briquette curing reaction, has been envisaged for the purpose of assuring the mechanical strength necessary for subsequent industrial handling. Finally, the briquettes are transported to a storage area (17) in which they are stored until being used in the installation (1) for the generation of new rock wool.

(13) The CO.sub.2 gas used to activate briquette curing can be artificial or it can be ambient CO.sub.2 gas present in the storage area (17) of the briquettes.

(14) FIG. 2 shows a graph comparing an elemental composition of rock wool waste and a briquette using rock wool waste compacted with sodium silicate binder as a raw material. The elements making up the rock wool waste, aluminum (Al), barium (Ba), bismuth (Bi), calcium (Ca), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), sodium (Na), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), silicon (Si), zinc (Zn), are shown on X-axis. The deviation of each of the elements caused by the addition of the sodium silicate (Na.sub.2SiO.sub.3) binder is shown on the Y-axis. As can be seen, the chemical alteration of the composition due to the addition of the binder is virtually negligible.