LU100536B1 - Used tire recycling plant - Google Patents

Abstract

Waste tire recycling plant (10) comprising a production line with a plurality of stations connected in series and comprising at least: a preparation station (12) for the preparation and regulation of the tire supply, comprising a hopper (22) power supply and a tire cleaner (26); a grinding station (14) for grinding and separating the materials, comprising at least one grinder (62); a granulation station (16) for changing the ground material into finer particles or aggregates, comprising at least one granulator (72); and preferably a packaging station (18) for packaging the products, comprising means for packaging (57, 58, 59) the aggregates, wherein the plant (10) said stations are arranged aligned.

Description

Used tire recycling plant

Technical area

The present invention generally relates to the field of recovery of used tires, and more particularly an upgrading facility for used tires.

State of the art

Nearly 1.2 billion tires (or tires) are produced each year. When these tires end up being too worn to ensure the safety of vehicles, the question arises of their end of life.

A tire is composed of rubber gum (based on isoprene polymer), steel, textiles and various elements that reinforce the strength of the gum.

Used tires that can not be reused can be reused, they are said to be encircled, in many ways, whole, in pieces or crushed. Amongst the methods of valorization, for example, there is known support for silage tarpaulins in agricultural environments; the constitution of road embankments or constructions; the support must be ironed, to reduce the vibrations and the noise; play areas and artificial turf for sports stadiums; and TDF (Fuel Derived Fuel) type fuels and raw materials for cement works and ceramics.

Demand for material recovery in tires continues to grow, and waste companies currently have to evacuate their tires at distances sometimes up to 800 km. In addition, the increasing share of the use of granulate and crumb in various applications also demonstrates a growing need.

TDFs are particularly needed to meet the energy needs of the cement industries. In the current context, the TDF is used to give a generic term encompassing a certain dimension of grain of material, knowing that in general, the companies using this TDF look for "chips" of dimension between 25 mm and 80 mm.

The cement industry has become very demanding of TDF because of fluctuations in the prices of petroleum products, and they do not hesitate to pay the TDF at the market price of petcoke (or "pet coke").

The biomass share of tires is also used in calculating CO2 emissions. Thus, tires not only provide a calorie intake equivalent to that of pet coke and coal, but can reduce fossil CO2 emissions significantly due to their biomass (up to 45% of combustion emissions in the case of a substitution of 100% dupet coke by used tires).

Tire recycling line installations generally include a grinding portion, a granulation portion, and a packaging, or commonly bagging portion, called big-bags. Some facilities also include an additional portion of micronization.

The known tire recycling installations are generally of rectangular form, that is to say that the different production modules are placed next to one another in a compact manner to save space / space.

Known installations are also generally limited to the recycling of certain types of tires from industrial or commercial vehicles. This limitation is determined in particular by the size of pneumatics authorized line input.

In addition, by the nature of used tires, the steel content passing in different mills may create sparks in the facilities, see cause a fire, as already found on other facilities.

In conventional installations the fire starts are controlled by temperature controllers. The machines are stopped when the temperature exceeds a threshold temperature. These systems are not very effective to prevent fire starts.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is to propose an installation of used tires upgrading line which improves the productivity and security of known systems.

This objective is achieved by a used tire recovery plant according to claim 1.

General description of the invention

To pursue this objective, the invention proposes a recovery facility for used tires. The installation comprises a production line with a plurality of elements grouped into stations connected in series.The installation comprises at least one preparation station for the preparation and regulation of the supply of the tires, comprising a feed hopper and a tire cleaner; a tire grinding station for grinding and separating materials, comprising at least one grinder; a granulation station for changing the ground material into finer particles or aggregates, comprising at least one granulator; andpreferably a packaging station for packaging products, comprising means for packaging the aggregates.

According to the invention, these stations are arranged substantially aligned, or elongated.

In the remainder of the description, the terms "chips", "ground", and "granulate" denote tire fractions separated from an initial tire. The ground material is a tire fraction obtained for example after grinding. In the context of the description, however, the three terms above may be used interchangeably without constituting a limitation.

The tire recycling line is advantageous because it has a length distribution. This allows to have a clear vision throughout the process. The production stations are separated exactly along one line, and it is easy to determine the performance of each party in comparison to another.

Another advantage of this installation in aligned stations comprising different line parts is to ensure better security, including incas fires, because the line is accessible and a fire departure is less likely to affect neighboring stations than in a provision classical, for example square. The installation of a tire cleaner is used to supply the installation with clean products.

Indeed, if it is customary to accept tires entering the site that meet a specific specification, it is not uncommon to find a load of dirty tires, or with some chippings.

Cleaning the tires improves safety by cleaning tires with flammable liquids. The operation of the line also becomes more robust because the incoming tires do not carry depolluting agents, for example, stones.

Another advantage of the cleaner is the opening of the market of the valorization to deposits of tires outside the traditional circuits of the distribution or durelacement with the garages, as for example the estatesclandestins, the tires on the agricultural silos, the tires of dismounting center. The installation presented thus makes it possible to obtain additional deposits, in contrast with the known installations of the state of technology.

Preferably, the grinding station comprises a grinder and / or a pre-grinder configured to treat tires of different sizes, including light-duty vehicles, heavy-duty tires, agricultural-type tires, solid tires or inner tubes. industry, and civil engineering The tire recovery facility allows to modulate the targeted production in accordance with the demand. The line is not limited in terms of input tire sizes, unlike the lines developed in the state of the art.

Preferably, the grinding station produces chips of a size between 18 mm and 25 mm. The chips from grinding can already be sold as TDF.

Advantageously, the granulation station comprises a first granulator which produces granulate with a dimension of less than 10 mm, and a second granulator which produces granulate with a size of approximately 1 mm.

In advantageous embodiments, the plant further comprises a micronization station for reducing the size of the granulate, the micronization station comprises at least one microniser mill. The micronizer grinder produces crumb with a size of about 0.8 mm or less. The micronization station is disposed downstream of the degranulation station, and is aligned therewith and the conditioning station.

Preferably, the installation also includes a fire detection system. This system includes spark detection units, and automatic spark quenching units with spray nozzles. This system is mainly installed in the grinding station where the risks are greatest considering the presence of steel in thecopeaux.

The detectors are placed in strategic locations, based on a statistical algorithm analysis, such as a study of the number of sparks per minute, and their position. The sensors are then arranged on the basis of analyzes and calculation of the risks.

The spark detection is advantageously completed by a system for injecting water under pressure into the risk stations. It should be noted that the risk of fire is greatest in the grinding station because of the presence of steel in the chips, and that, conversely, the degranulation and conditioning stations have the lowest fire risks because the steel there is more or little present.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION WITH THE FIGURES Other features and features of the invention will become apparent from the detailed description of at least one advantageous embodiment presented below, by way of illustration, with reference to the accompanying drawings. These are:

Figure 1: a principle diagram (top view) of an embodiment of a used tire recycling facility including a production line. The used tire recovery plant 10 is composed of five stations connected in series. The installation includes a preparation station 12 for the preparation and regulation of the tire supply; a grinding station 14 tires for grinding and separation of materials; a granulation ester 16, intended to change the ground material into finer particles or granulate; a micronization station 17, optional, to reduce the size ofgranulate, and a conditioning station 18 for packaging products, including the setting in big-bags. The different stations of the installation are arranged aligned in the production space. This production space can be outdoors, or preferably, for environmental reasons, covered and integrated into a building.

Figure 1 shows only the part of the installation dedicated to tire processing machines. The site may, for example, also comprise office buildings and loading / unloading stations.

Preferably, the installation is located near the deposits. Costs and environmental impacts generated by logistics solutions are reduced. In an advantageous embodiment, the installation is located close to a fluvial transport station.

According to the variants, the installation comprises a second production line like that shown in FIG. 1. The production lines are then independent. It is possible to stop only one of the lines during maintenance operations while continuing a reduced production.

It should be noted that the production line presented here is designed to produce different sizes of aggregates and that the grain sizes given below are only examples.

The materials produced from the tires are mainly steel for about 25% by weight, textile material for about 15% by weight, and rubber representing 55 to 60% by weight. These materials are reduced and separated. On arrival at the site, the tire loads are first brought to the preparation station 12. The installation is configured to treat different types of tires, such as tires of light civilian vehicles (70%), or trucks, agrarian, industrial, and civil engineering tires.

The preparation station 12 comprises a feed hopper 22 for tires. The hopper can be powered by grapple or loader (not shown). The hopper 22 comprises a container equipped with a discharge conveyor controlled by a variable frequency drive. The hopper 22 allows an operator to take care of other tasks at the same time, whereas conventional hopperless feed systems require one or two persons for continuous feeding, involving comfort and hardship constraints.

A conveyor 24 routes the tires from the hopper 22 to a tire cleaner 26. The 26 tire cleaner is configured to remove stones, sand, dirt, ice, snow, water and other impurities. The cleaner 26 is suitable for small tires or tourism type tires. When larger tires are treated, a bypass system (not shown) avoids the cleaner and continues on the line at the exit of the cleaner.

Cleaning the tires improves safety by cleaning tires with flammable liquids. The operation of the line also becomes more robust because the incoming tires do not carry depolluting agents, for example, stones.

It will be appreciated that the integration of the cleaner in the production line has the great advantage of opening up the recycling to tires outside the conventional circuits (standard deposits, agricultural silos) - generally excluded from the granulation.

A conveyor 28 routes the tires from the cleaner 26 to the crushing station 14 of the tires. The grinding station 14 includes a pre-grinder 30 to reduce tires to large chips. Any suitable type of pre-mill may be used, especially Super Chopper type, preferably two rotors. There is provided a modulator (not shown) of speed according to the incoming materials.

Tire offsetting, particularly of the heavy truck type, is not necessary before grinding in the pre-grinder 30. The latter may be put in place in the preparation station 12 if a request for a steel rod made of heavy truck type tires is known.

The pre-mill 30 comprises a control station 32 and a power supply cabinet 34. Two access platforms 36 are provided for the maintenance operations of the pre-mill 30.

At the outlet of the pre-mill 30, the chips are transported successively by a vibratory conveyor 36, via a feed conveyor 38, to a disk sorter 42, commonly called a screen.

The screen 42 has the role of conveying the chips after the pre-grinding phase while sorting and separating them according to their size. The too large dimensions are returned to the pre-mill 30, via two conveyors 44 and 40. At the exit of the screen 42 the material passes on a feed conveyor 48 and through an electromagnetic band separator 46 for the de-reinforcement of the rubber ply. This system makes it possible to clean the steel fibers still present in the ground material. Once cleaned, the steel is extracted by convoys 54, 56.

The conveyor 48 opens onto a feed conveyor 50 which conveys the mill to two multifunction mills 62. The mills each comprise a hopper 58 for loading and pre-storage. The hopper 58 makes it possible to regulate the flow to the mill in a continuous manner. The control of the flow of supply is done by a frequency variator.

The grinders 62 further include access platforms 60 for maintenance operations.

The two grinders 62 are multipurpose cutters (or "multipurpose rasper"), but any type of suitable grinder can be used. At this point in the line, the mills grind the materials. In comparison with the pre-grinding performed previously by the super-choppers 30, the grinding makes it possible to obtain relatively large-sized grinds which are already a reusable raw material, especially in the building sector, and in particular used as an underbody, or for roads or buildings. The grinders 62 may be equipped with electric or hydraulic motors.

It will be noted that at this point the line is divided into two parallel branches of the identical (or similar) construction. This helps increase production capacity and diversify production. In fact, the sizes of the granulatsobtenus may be different in one or other of the branches. Moreover, in the case of a technical intervention, for example maintenance, the use of a single branch would be enough to continuously supply degranulation installation. These two parallel branches do not call into question the linear position of the stations of the installation. In the following we will therefore describe only the equipment and machines of the lower branch in the figure.

A vibrating unloader conveyor 64 moves the millstock at the outlet of the mill 62 to an electromagnetic band separator 66 for the de-reinforcement of the rubber mill. The magnetic separator 66 is located above the unloaderconveyor 64.

The metal produced here is of good quality. It can be routed to containers for bulk or briquette delivery, for example, to steelmakers interested in this product. At this stage, the ground material is small (about 25 mm up to 18 mm). A screw transfer 68, pivoting, conveys the ground material to the granulation station 16.

The screw transfer 68 communicates with a buffer hopper 70 of the degranulation station 16.

The role of the hopper is to balance the output of the mill because the granulation capacity of the granulator 16 depends on the size of the desired granulate and the intermediate mill.

According to the variants, before the buffer hopper 70, there is added a transport strip discharging the ground materials of a predetermined size to be used for specific needs, especially in cement plants.

A first mill finisher, also called first granulator 72 reduces the size of the ground. The outgoing granulate is, for example, less than 10 mm. The granulate is transported by a pneumatic conveyance of granulate 74 to a sorting table 78 which is also called a shaking table.

The table 78 comprises a sieve with two layers, a bottom plate, and a rubber ball anti-jam system.

The sorting table also comprises two access platforms 76 (mobile type) for maintenance operations. Following the sorting table 78, the granulate passes through two electromagnetic tape separators 80, for a new de-ironing. In general, there is almost no more steel left at this stage, since it has already been removed in large part in the previous steps. On the other hand, there can still be a lot of fine steel filaments that have to be separated from the rubber.

After de-ironing, the granulate passes into a second granulator 82. The second granulator 82 operates identically to the first granulator 72, but provides a smaller granule size. It is also possible to use only one of the granulators of the branch during a maintenance operation for example.

At the outlet of the second granulator 82, a pneumatic transport of granulate 84 conveys the granulate to a new sorting table 86, similar to the previous sorting table 78.

In order to guarantee a totally clean granulate of any pollution of steel, an electromagnetic pulley 88 extracts ferrous materials at the outlet of the latable 86.

The granulate then passes over a vibratory conveyor 90 and pneumatic conveyor 92 to a vacuum cleaner 94. In the vacuum cleaner 94, the material passes into a stream of air and the textile is sucked. The vacuum cleaner is designed to separate the textile from the rubber granulate and sort the rubber fraction into three sizes. The particle size produced can be modified simply by changing grids and sieves in the granulators and / or in the vacuum cleaner. A branch can be obtained that produces a different type of granulate from another branch. At this stage, there is a granulate which is released from about 99.9% of textile and steel.

The granulate passes through sieves for fractionation in 3 parts. Fractions larger than a predefined threshold size pass through a return loop 98 which passes back into the hopper 70, and the material is returned to the first granulator 72 to be crushed again.

Fine fractions, below 1 mm are sent to the conditioning station 18.

The coarser fractions are sent to a micronization station17. The micronization station 17 comprises a microniser mill 106 (see for example the company Lleal s.a., Barcelona, Spain). The particles reach the microniser mill 106 by two pneumatic transfers 100, 102, and a storage hopper 104 fed by a screw conveyor.

The microniser mill 106 is placed on a frame. The micronizer mill 106 is used for the production of crumb whose dimensions are produced in the order of about 0.8 mm up to 10 microns.

The line includes refrigeration equipment 108 that can maintain a temperature of about 55 ° C. The maintenance of a predetermined temperature makes it possible to avoid fires leaving the micronizers.

The microniser mill is connected to a screen 114 supplied with material by a screw conveyor 110, 112. The screen 114 performs a screening by screening the particle size, while ensuring a predetermined flow. The sieve preferably includes a double sieve for effective control. Once sieved, the granulate is sent to the conditioning station 18.

In the conditioning station 18, the materials are packaged in big-bag stations 124, 126, 128 each comprising a weigh unit before the big-bags are placed in the finished product. The vacuum cleaner 94, and the screen 114 communicate with the big-bag stations 124, 126, 128, by pneumatic transfers 116, 120, 122, and conveyors at 118.

The line also includes 67-69 power controls and cabinets.

Claims (9)

1. Used tire recycling plant, the plant (10) comprisinga production line with a plurality of stations connected in seriesand comprising at least: a preparation station (12) for the preparation and regulation of the supply of tires, comprising a feed hopper (22) and a tire cleaner (26); a grinding station (14) for grinding and separating materials, comprising at least one grinder (62); a granulation station (16) for changing the ground material into finer particles or aggregates, comprising at least one granulator (72); and preferably a conditioning station (18) for the packaging of the products, comprising means for conditioning (57, 58, 59) aggregates, in which installation (10) said stations are arranged aligned. 2. Installation according to claim 1, wherein the grinding station (14) comprises a grinder (62), and preferably a pre-grinder (30), configured (s) for grinding tires of different sizes, including the tires of light-duty vehicles, heavy-duty vehicles, agricultural-type tires, solid or tubular tires for industry, and civil engineering. 3. Installation according to one of claims 1 or 2, wherein the grinding station (14) produces chips with a size between 18 mm and 25 mm. 4. Installation according to any one of claims 1, 2 or 3, whereinla granulation station (16) comprises a first granulator (72) which produces granulate of a size less than 10 mm, and a second granulator (82). ) which produces granulate with a dimension of about 1 mm. 5. Installation according to any one of the preceding claims, further comprising a micronization station (17) for reducing the size of the granulate, the micronization station (17) comprises at least one micronizer mill (106). 6. Installation according to claim 5, wherein the micronization station (17) is disposed downstream of the granulation station (16) aligned with it and the conditioning station (18). The plant of claim 5 or 6, wherein the micronizer mill (106) produces crumb of a size of about 0.8 mm to 10 microns. 8. Installation according to any one of the preceding claimscomprenant further a fire detection system. 9. Installation according to claim 7 wherein the grinding station (14) further comprises spark detection units, and automatic spark quenching units with spray nozzles.