EP0410835B1 - Process and arrangement for the treatment of drums containing liquid waste - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method and an installation for the treatment of industrial drums containing liquid waste and, in particular, flammable, explosive and / or toxic liquids.

In the current state of the art, it is the staff who open the drums, pour their contents into a tank provided for this purpose, possibly clean the empty drums and transport them to a place of disposal. These operations are long and costly, and they present the risk of intoxication of personnel, fire and explosion.

Consequently, it has been proposed to open the drums by mechanical means and to allow their contents to settle before their treatment. This known process remains however long and costly, and it does not completely eliminate the aforementioned risks, since the barrels remain open to the open air for the duration of the decantation.

GB-A-839.207 patent further proposes, in the case of small metal containers, such as beer or fruit juice boxes, to pierce and compress these boxes in a single operation, to recover the boxes compressed into patties and collect their contents. This process is implemented by means of a device in which the containers to be treated are brought one after the other between a compression piston and a hollow piercing member which is connected to means for discharging the liquid outwards. contained in the container.

A similar device is described in US-A-4,459,906 which relates to the treatment of discarded aerosol cans. However, the piercing member is here full and sliding, the products contained in the container escaping therefrom immediately after its piercing and after the retraction of the piercing member.

In both cases, these known methods and devices do not achieve the goal of the present invention which is to empty and compress in the form of pancakes large industrial drums by eliminating any risk of fire and explosion and avoiding any risk to personnel.

According to the invention, this object is achieved thanks to an installation of the kind comprising a barrel press in which the barrels to be treated are brought between a compression piston and a hollow piercing member connected to means for discharging the liquids contained in the barrel, which is characterized by a barrel press comprising a sealed press cylinder closed at one end by a compression piston which is movable along the axis of the cylinder in question, and at its other end by a cover which is intended for the axial introduction of the drums to be treated and which is provided with the piercing member specified above.

It is understood that, for the most part, it suffices to introduce an axially closed barrel into this cylinder, to make the piercing member penetrate into the barrel and to cause the compression piston to act so that the pierced barrel is compressed in one wafer, the liquid it contains escaping through the hollow piercing member to be evacuated from the cylinder by the means provided for this purpose and collected, for example, in a suitable pit. As for the barrel reduced to a pancake state, it is extracted from the cylinder after the opening of the cover and it can be recycled in the steel industry.

The fact that the drums are emptied and compressed in a closed cylinder allows them to be treated without risk of fire or explosion, even if they contain flammable or explosive liquids. By the same token, the dangers to which personnel have been exposed have been removed.

As in the aforementioned British patent GB-A-839.207, the piercing member can consist of at least one hollow pin which ends in a point at its end directed towards the inside of the cylinder and which is connected at its other end to a discharge pipe from the contents of barrels. According to the invention, this pin can advantageously slide, parallel to the axis of the cylinder of the device, through an opening in the cover of the latter.

Thus, the drilling of the drums occurs before their compression, contrary to what takes place according to the aforementioned British patent, which allows in particular to better dose the drilling effort and to avoid any compression of the liquid, increasing by the even the security sought.

The sliding of the pin or pins specified above is advantageously achieved thanks to the fact that in the vicinity of their end opposite to the press cylinder, these pins are integral with a plate which they pass through and which can slide under the effect of at least one jack. Preferably, this plate slides on columns mounted on the cover of the press cylinder, perpendicular to it, so that this cover, with its pins mounted on their sliding plate, forms an assembly which is advantageously pivotally mounted on the press cylinder, at the end thereof which is opposite to its compression piston, owing to the fact that this cover is articulated on the press cylinder by one of its edges, and that it can pivot around its articulation axis by means of at least one double-acting cylinder.

To facilitate the drilling of drums, the pin or pins specified above are preferably terminated at a bevel on the side of the press cylinder.

In an advantageous embodiment, the piercing member is constituted by a plurality of pins parallel to each other comprising a central pin which extends along the axis of the cylinder and a plurality of peripheral pins which are arranged according to generatrices of a cylinder of revolution, the axis of the latter coinciding with the axis of the cylinder. This arrangement facilitates the treatment of large drums with thick walls.

Preferably, the body of the press cylinder according to the invention has a substantially square external cross section.

In the installation according to the invention, the barrel press described above is advantageously associated with a crane for taking up the barrels to form a mobile assembly and, where appropriate, with other suitable handling devices.

The invention also relates to a method for implementing the installation which has just been described, this method being characterized in that the barrel to be treated is axially introduced into the cylinder of the device, which is close the cover of this cylinder, move the compression piston specified above so that the barrel to be treated comes to bear under low pressure on the cover, then move the piercing member inward of the cylinder in order to pierce the barrel, then moving the compression piston inward towards the inside of the cylinder in order to compress the barrel, the contents of which flow outwards through the piercing member, the latter erasing during this phase, and that the cover is finally opened in order to extract axially from the cylinder the treated barrel which is reduced to the pancake state.

• La figure 1 montre une vue en coupe longitudinale d'une presse à fûts selon l'invention ;
• la figure 2 montre une vue en coupe partielle de cette presse, prise selon la ligne II-II de la figure 1 ; et :
• La figure 3 représente une vue en bout, de l'objet de la figure 2, prise selon la flèche III de cette figure.

The description which follows, and which has no limiting character, will make it possible to understand clearly how the present invention can be put into practice. It should be read against the accompanying drawings, among which:

• Figure 1 shows a longitudinal sectional view of a barrel press according to the invention;
• Figure 2 shows a partial sectional view of this press, taken along line II-II of Figure 1; and:
• Figure 3 shows an end view of the object of Figure 2, taken along arrow III of this figure.

The barrel press according to the invention which is shown in these figures comprises a cylinder 1, for example at square external section, closed at one of its ends by a piston 2 which is movable along the axis XX 'of the cylinder, as indicated by the double arrow F, under the effect of a double-acting cylinder shown partially in 2a. The cylinder 1 is preferably arranged horizontally or almost horizontally.

At its other end, the cylinder 1 is closed by a cover 3 pierced with openings 4 in which hollow drilling pins 5 can slide parallel to the axis XX ′. These pins 5 end at a bevel at their end situated on the side of the cylinder 1 and, at their other end, they are integral with a plate 6 which they pass through to form a free end piece 5 'intended to receive a discharge pipe. not shown.

Two double-acting cylinders 7 are mounted between the plate 6 and the cover 3, on both sides of the set of pins 5, and they allow the latter to slide between a rest position shown in solid lines in FIG. 1 and a position for drilling and flow of the liquid which is indicated schematically in broken lines in this same figure 1.

As can be seen more clearly in FIG. 2, the plate 6 is guided in this movement by four columns 8 which pass through it in the vicinity of its four corners and which are mounted on the cover 3. It is further seen in this FIG. 2 that this cover 3 is articulated along one of its edges on an axis 9 integral with the cylinder 1, and that it laterally exceeds the latter, beyond the axis 9, by an extension 10. A double-acting cylinder 11 connects the end of the latter to the lateral surface of the cylinder 1, and its actuation makes it possible to open and close the cover 3, as indicated by the double arrow F1, with all the members which are integral therewith, namely the columns 8, the sliding plate 6 and the pins 5, and therefore to make accessible and, respectively, to close the interior of the cylinder 1.

The end view of Figure 3 shows an advantageous distribution of the pins 5 which are here six in number. One of them, 5a, extends along the axis XX ', four others, 5b, are located at the vertices of a square centered on the pin 5a, and the last, 5c, is on the circle which passes through the four pins 5b, equidistant from two of the latter. This last pin 5c increases the flow capacity at the bottom of the cylinder 1.

The operating mode of this device is as follows:

The cover 3 is opened and the pins 5 are put in the rest position, by means of the jacks 7. Each barrel to be treated is brought in, by handling devices not shown, which may include a crane secured to the barrel press and a chute for introduction of the barrels one after the other, into the cylinder 1 at the rate of only one at a time. We then close cover 3.

The piston 2 is pushed by the jack 5a until the barrel comes to bear under low pressure on the cover 3. Then the pins 5 are pushed inside the cylinder 1 by means of the jacks 7. Their bevelled ends pierce the barrel and enter it. The pressure exerted on the pins by the jacks 7 is then removed. It is then that the jack 2a pushes the piston 2 towards the inside of the cylinder 1, which compresses the barrel and, at the same time, drives its contents towards the outside through the axial bore of the pins 5 and the pipes which are mounted on the end pieces 5a of the latter and which discharge it into a suitable pit. During this phase, the pins move back to their rest position as the piston 2 advances. At the end of this operation, the barrels are reduced to the state of pancakes, due to the compression exerted by the jack 2a on the piston 2. After opening the cover 3, they are extracted from the cylinder 1, and they can be recovered in the steel industry.

It will also be noted that the apparatus which has just been described is advantageously of the explosion-proof type, and that its equipment is hydraulically driven, for example under a maximum pressure of 230 bars, this pressure being approximately 180 bars in the usual regime. The control members of the assembly are conventional and well known to specialists in the field, so that they will not be described here.

It goes without saying that, without departing from the scope of the present invention, various modifications could be made to the embodiment described above. Thus the number and the arrangement of the pins 5 could be different, and that another system for closing the cover 3 could be provided, provided that it tightly closes the cylinder 1.

Claims (10)

1. Installation for the treatment of drums containing liquid waste, of the type comprising a drum press in which the drums to be treated are conveyed between a compression piston (2) and a hollow piercing device (5) connected to means for discharging to the outside the liquids contained in the drum, characterized by the fact that the said drum press comprises a tight press cylinder (1) closed at one end by the said compression piston (2), which is mobile along the axis (X-X') of the said cylinder (1), and at its other end by a cover (3) which is designed for the axial introduction of the drums to be treated and which is equipped with the aforementioned piercing device (5).
2. Installation in accordance with claim 1, of the type in which the said piercing device consists of at least one hollow pin (5) which at the end towards the interior of the said cylinder (1) terminates in a point and which is connected at its other end to a discharge pipe for the contents of the drums, characterized by the fact that the said pin (5) can slide, parallel to the axis (X-X') of the said cylinder (1), through an opening (4) provided in the said cover (3).
3. Installation in accordance with claim 2, characterized by the fact that the said pin (5) is integral, in the vicinity of the end farthest away from the said cylinder (1), with a plate (6) through which it passes and which is able to slide under the action of at least one jack (7).
4. Installation in accordance with claim 3, characterized by the fact that the said plate (6) slides on columns (8) mounted on the said cover (3) perpendicularly to the latter.
5. Installation in accordance with any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized by the fact that the said hollow pin (5) terminates in a bevelled end directed towards the interior of the said cylinder (1).
6. Installation in accordance with any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized by the fact that the said piercing device is formed by a plurality of pins (5) parallel with one another and including a central pin (5a), which extends along the axis (X-X') of the said cylinder (1), and a plurality of peripheral pins (5b, 5c) arranged in accordance with generatrices of a revolution cylinder, the axis of this latter coinciding with the axis (X-X') of the said cylinder (1).
7. Installation in accordance with any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized by the fact that the said cover (3) is articulated to the said cylinder (1) by one of its edges and can pivot about its articulation shaft (10) by means of at least one double-acting jack (11).
8. Installation in accordance with any one of claims 1 to 7, characterised by the fact that the said cylinder (1) has a substantially square external cross section.
9. Installation in accordance with any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized by the fact that the said drum press is associated with a drum collecting crane, to form a mobile assembly.
10. Process for the operation of the installation according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized by the fact that the drum to be treated is introduced axially into the said cylinder (1), that the said cover (3) is closed, that the said compression piston (2) is moved until the drum to be treated comes to rest on the said cover (3) with only slight pressure, that the said piercing device (5) is then moved towards the interior of the said cylinder (1) in order to perforate the drum, the said compression piston (2) being then moved, in its turn, towards the interior of the said cylinder in order to compress the drum, of which the contents flow out through the said piercing device (5), which latter moves out of the way during this phase, while finally the said cover (3) is opened for the purpose of the axial extraction of the treated drum, which is reduced to a flat cake shape.

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