US1983801A - Carbonizer - Google Patents

Description

De`cll, 1934. 3 R. J. HlLLsTRoM l 1,983,801

' CARBONIZER- Filed Deo. 1, v19223 COAL HOPEER fsfcom. HoPPER "M Bum/Ens n 8 /5 WATER JA cher 1Q 'fm fa /g f 45 ZZV@ FL OWCO NTlfOL vof-coal of the --overv the prior art are many, ,l vvof extremely simple Y Patented Dec. 11, 1934 CARBONIZER Rudolph J. vHillstrom, Marshfield Oreg. ApplicatonIDecember 1, 1928, Serial No. 323,075

' 3:*Claims.

`While Iliave designatedmy device VVas a `car- -bonizer I ydono-t ylimit its application, f orvitvmay be usedfras a'dryer for carbonaceous materials and vother non-carbonaceous materials,,such as sand, and-it -Inight be usedias a cooler also.

Throughout-my specifications I shall referto it as a carbonizer.

ylV Iy carbonizer `is of the vgravity feedvprogressive heating type and readily adapted for use Uvwith, carbonaceous materialsof widely separated characteristics. It is particularly adaptablevto -the carbonization o sub-bituminouscoals o-v the non-poking* type vbecause the Ausual waste in slack may be utilized. Inrother words, forfeveryton above; type soldan eXtra quarter ton visfmined and usually-wasted. `lli/ lanyof the disadvantages of*l the use of slack in otherproc- .esses are eliminated in my carbonizer -as will -beccme apparent as I describe it.

The advantages obtained withmylcarbonizer I have, acarbonizer design andylargegcapacity coupledpwith a low first oost,` a low. maintenance cost, and a low operating cost. The-results obv` tainablefare many and-varied andare had With- .out additional equipment. fas coal and sawdust ,and come out perfectly-mixed. vThe char may Two materials such may be run through ,together come from the carbonizer cooled -oivr or it. may Acorne out heated to the proper degreej-foriuse in a briquetting machine. Oils of any desiredboiling point may be takeno .without theiry being Y subject to higher heat `and without their being -mixed withhotter gasesevolved at hotterfstages,

thus eliminating secondary reactions. A.L Iy f car- .bonizer lends itself to luse in aplantofany desired capacity either in size or control of the desired; objectives.

The carbonizer. as illustrated Yin theaccompanying drawings is adapted for use :inbatteries ywhich may be extendedat will without revamping. a layout. It is suchy thatany desired number of gas-collecting hoods.

I accomplish the objectsset forth above in the carboniaer whose description.followsand which is illustrated by the following drawing of which Fig. 1 is a vertical section thru av single vthroughout the several views.

in y which the..v material My carbonizer` Vis one`l for ,materials beingtreated iiow `downwardly fby ygravittr vin a th the carbonizer` doing/are continuous ing theirdirection of lflow las they pass over. heated, inc

bafflingA surfaces.

The material to .zbyany suitable ymeans into .bonizer hopp er i I havelshown Yfrom. a conveyor 1,. through 3 formed as part of the ng` the lhoppers ,is`

deto meet, the conditions of nthev particular plant layout.

.Walla isf-.spaced tem. bastion .sha-mbsf: A1.1 en .f-l-cufrl tbetvallz 12. `lin the ...Wall 10 of Y i; .flQmlhQW gas or vaporized oils vmay be takenoftfrom a ,L carbonizer of any capacity by regulating theA the carbon-iger built over .,lowenfdischarge. Forpurpo this hopper is` shown. and ci carbonizeri to economica the; feedingarrangeme `ticularplant They carbon .in any suitablamanner. -bonizer is rectangularv in -and includes-the; si walls '7, only oneof w `2. ithin this rectan `v.:arbonizing chambers. .borliznsf. Chamber .bonzna hambern lies .Qonnetwith the ,end Walls 7.

:three festas tisular fcorrection be to Conine-thepmduets.

venting. them .being treated.

Heating gases m battery formation one= carboni/Zing chamber Sis spaced 11,-9v ,f the. alla ber; -tqffolm, th cor-@DUS The construct? `not shown.

n either and is merely the adaptability of my in layer from theintale end of to the discharge end and in so ly heated and mixed by hav- Vfrequently changed lined and staggered,

be carbonized is discharged the top of the carit Vas being discharged the spout p 2, into the carbonizer. The no part of my The drawing shows hopper 4 having .a

,se of v description only shown as'being adapted to discharge. the char, as for instance into a` briquetting machine .-.rnixen yis` no part .of .my inventio ted ,tot show llayouts.

This feature This too, like nt,is,governed by the parizermay be supported The shell of the carkhorizontal cross section dewalls 5 and-,6 and two end hich appears 1n Figs. l and gularshell. are one 01 more .8. Fig. 1, Vshows one car- 8- and-Eig.

between the corrugated v`walls Q; and310;` ywhiclfi are interposed between and 2, two. -Each car- Awhich I space about art, in any suitable manner, no paring shown. In- Fig.

l, the

the wall 5 to form the comd the kwall yl() is spaced the. @Ombuton chamba' shown in Fig. 2, the

frorn mingling .withvv the. material combustionchambers 11, l2

ney; or to an auxil Gr.drielzfbeing shown the atmesphere, ,onditons .thefuseio fai an, notsliown,

Within Ithe carbonizing chambers 8 oving u wardly. fpass from. the

, and 13, by way of Qtheopeningsl y14 intf the. atmosphere, into a chimiary drier, neither the chimney .W hen discharging into ysometimes .warrant A'for V creating an in- I duced draft. Hot gases are supplied by the gas burners placed within the combustion chambers 11, 12, and 13, and adjacent each corrugation 16, if desired, and so as to more directly act upon the surface 16A, of said corrugations 16, over which the material being distilled passes. rlhe walls 9 and 10 forming the carbonizing chamber 8 are made continuous from the intake end of the carbonizer to the discharge valve 17, their connections with the hopper 3 and the walls 5, 6, and 7, being made gas-tight.

The lower end of the carbonizing chamber 8 is closed by the rotary discharge Valve 17 by which the movement of material thru the carbonizing chamber 8 is controlled. To operate this valve 17 I have used, per unit, a 1/2 I-I. P. motor, suitably geared and controlled. The motor, gearing, and control, I have not shown.

It will be noted that the corrugations 16 of the wall 9 are arranged in staggered relation to the corrugations 16 of the wall 10. By the staggered arrangement of the corrugations, I can oonstrict the throat, thru which the material being treated passes, as at the point 18 and thus form an enlarged portion 19, in which, preferably, I insert an inverted approximately V-shaped hood 20 under which the gases collect and from which they are led through the vapor and gas outlets 2l from the carbonizer directly to the exterior. The gases do not pass thru heated zones because the approximately V-shaped hoods 20 extend between and are connected to the walls 7 in any suitable manner, no particular connection being shown. The vapor and gas outlets 21 are positioned in either or both of the walls 7.

With the sub-bituminous coals of the Coos Bay district I find that if I make the angle of the sides of the corrugations 16 an angle of 50 degrees and leave a 11/2 space between the corrugations 16 at the point 18 everything works well. I have had no trouble with the coal clogging. While this angle may be made 50 degrees with Coos Bay coals it is to be understood that it must always be greater than the angle of repose for the materials being treated. For the coals mentioned I und the use of twentyfour of the hoods 20 to be satisfactory, although I have shown a lesser number in my drawing. With the twenty-four hoods 20 I get a sufciently fast c-arbonizer to make char for briquetting and to recover the oils I wish to obtain. While I nd twenty-four satisfactory for my purpose, the number of hoods 20 is made in accordance with the capacity of the plant and the objectives sought. I have placed the sides of the approximately V-shaped hoods 20 parallel with the adjacent sides of the corrugations 16 and spaced 11/2 therefrom. The sides 0f the corrugations 16 are made long enough that length may be given to the sides of the approximately V-shaped hoods 20 so that a good seal may be formed by the coal passing through whereby gases liberated adjacent a particular hood 20 may be confined therein. The cross sectional area of a hood 20 is so much larger than that of the vapor and gas outlet 21 that the gas may be taken away from the coal at a low ve-` locity, thus materially reducing the amount of dust drawn over with the gas. Because each hood 20 is sealed from the others by the coal, it is possible to withdraw all gaseous products by suction.

Thru the intake pipes 22, water is admitted to the combustion chambers 11, 12, and 13. The height to which the water may rise in the chambers is fixed by the overflow pipes 23, said overflow pipes 23 permitting a circulation of the water.

I shall now proceed to describe the operation of the carbonizer in order to more clearly point out its many advantages and its simple operation.

We will assume that the coal is of the proper size to feed through the carbonizer and is delivered by the conveyor 1 and discharged by the spout 2 into the hopper 3 connected with the upper ends of the walls 9 and 10 forming the sides of the carbonizing chamber 8. The hopper 3 is so constructed as to allow suiiicient coal, usually several feet, to form a good seal over the top hood 20. The coal slides down in an even thin layer over a side 16A of a corrugation 16 of the wall 9 onto a side 16A of a corrugation 16 of the wall 10 and so on down over all the corrugations 16 to the discharge valve 17. Part of the coal is deflected by the inverted approximately V-shaped hoods 20 and passes through the sp-ace between the side 20A of said hood 20 and the side 16B of the adjacent corrugation 16. The downward movement of the coal is controlled by the discharge valve 17 at the will of the operator.

Gas stored from a previous run is fed to the lower burners 15 to start the operation. After gas begins to form in the carbonizer it is fed to the burners 15 so that the carbonizer supplies its own fuel for heating the walls 9 and 10 enclosing with the end walls 7 the carbonizing chamber 8. If it were desired these walls might be heated by electric grids or heat might be generated and delivered to the combustion chambers 11, 12, and 13, at a point above the overflow pipes 23 from a gas-fired extended nre box. I have only illustrated the gas burners, these being the preferred means to supply heat to the walls 9 and 10. Thru their use heat may be localized at desired points. Regardless of the method employed the heat travels upwardly and progressively heats the coal moving downward over the heated surfaces of the corrugations 16 of the walls 9 and 10 forming sides of the carbonizing chamber 8. Naturally the coal becomes hotter as it gets toward the discharge end. Moisture and the lighter oils start to distill over from the coal toward the top, filtering out through the moving coal and into the adjacent approximately V-shaped hoods, and those of a higher boiling temperature in a similar manner lower down where they collect and from which they are led through the vapor and gas outlets 21 for further processing in other devices not a part of this invention. There is no dilution of gases from the heating medium nor from those of a higher temperature. As the coal reaches the corrugations 16 below the overflow pipes 23 it is cooled by the water in the lower portions of the chambers 11, 12, and 13. Whether it is desirable to cool the char depends entirely upon the objectives sought. Thru the control of the rotary valve 17 and the number of gas burners 15 put in operation, the rate and degree of carbonization may be readily controlled.

From the above description and from a perusal of the drawing, it will be seen that I have perfected a carbonizer of extreme simplicity both in first cost, maintenance, and operation; one in which the coal constantly mixes itself as it moves downwardly by gravity in such a thin uniform layer as will absorb the maximum heat from the corrugated walls of the carbonizing chamber; one

in which the only moving element is the small rotary char-discharging valve 17; one in which the coal is progressively heated; one in which vaporized oil, for instance, vdistilling in a narrow boiling range is liberated and kept from dilution with other oils ci different boiling points; and one in which this ractionating :feature may be controlled for the objectives sought.

Having described my invention and illustrated it so clearly that anyone skilled in the art of low temperature carbonization or coal or other carbcnaceous substances might build an operable plant, I claim:

l. In a carbonizing apparatus, in combination:

a vertical shell having a carbonizing chambery therein, said carbonizing chamber having a plurality of alternate expanded and contracted portions; V-shaped hoods within the expanded portionsv adapted to change the direction of flow of l passing through the carbonizing chamber; Jor and gas oitakes within the hoods; a coal hopper attached to the top portion of the shell d adapted to admit coal to the carbonizing 1oer; a water jacket externally attached to ver portion of the carbonizing chamber for cwmog the carbonized residue; flow-control means "in the lower portion of the shell for withdrawing the cooled carbonized residue; and

burners located within the shell adjacent the contracted portions or the carbonizing chamber.

2. A carbonizer unit comprising a vertical shell; two corrugated Walls set in staggered arrangement positioned within the shell and extending between opposite shell walls and spaced apart and each spaced from adjacent shell walls and forming a centrally positioned carbonizing chamber and flanking combustion chambers, said carbonizing chamber having a plurality of alternate expanded and contracted portions; V-shaped hoods within the expanded portions adapted to change the direction of flow of coal passing through the carbonizing chamber; vapor and gas offtakes within the hoods; a coal hopper attached to the upper ends of the corrugated walls and adapted to admit coal to the carbonizing chamber; flow control means in the lower portion of the shell for withdrawing carbonized residue; and burners located within the combustion chambers adjacent the contracted portions of the carbonizing chamber.

3. A carbonizer unit comprising a vertical shell; two corrugated walls set in staggered arrangement positioned within the shell and extending between opposite shell walls and spaced apart and each spaced from the adjacent shell walls and forming a centrally positioned carbonizing chamber and flanking combustion chambers, said carbonizing chamber having a plurality of alternate expanded and contracted portions; V-shaped hoods within the expanded portions adapted to change the direction of flow of coal passing through the carbonizing chamber; vapor and gas offtakes within the hoods; a coal hopper attached to the upper ends of the corrugated walls and adapted to admit coal to the carbonizing chamber; a water jacket, occupying the lower portion of the combustion chambers, for cooling the carbonized residue;

flow-control means in the lower portion of the shell for withdrawing the cooled carbonized residue; and burners located within the combustion chambers above the portion containing the cooling water and adjacent the contracted portions of the carbonizing chamber.

RUDOLPH J. HILLSTROM.

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