WO2012014235A1

WO2012014235A1 - Integrated system for waste for recycling and energy recovery from municipal solid waste (msm)

Info

Publication number: WO2012014235A1
Application number: PCT/IT2010/000342
Authority: WO
Inventors: Piergiorgio Nonnis
Original assignee: Management Environment Finance Srl
Priority date: 2010-07-30
Filing date: 2010-07-30
Publication date: 2012-02-02

Abstract

The discovery is an integrated system of plants and devices for the final treatment of Municipal Solid Waste and other waste, that allows to recycle all waste fractions collected by the differentiated refuse disposal and to recover energy from those fractions whose recycle is technically or economically unprofitable. To be more precise, the integrated system is useful for biodegradable fraction treatment to get compost, plastic and glass recycle to get raw materials, paper and metals semi -process for further processing cycles, and also for concurring energy recovery from non recyclable waste fractions (dumped in undifferentiated way) or from above-mentioned recycling activities rejects.

Description

DESCRIPTION of the invention with the TITLE:

INTEGRATED SYSTEM FOR WASTE FOR RECYCLING AND ENERGY RECOVERY FROM MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE (MSM)

The discovery could be used in the field of the disposal of MSW and other waste. Nowadays the state of the art of waste disposal foresees:

• Solutions oriented to recycle only few waste fractions without worrying about the others;

• Solutions aimed to fuel production, with a lot of dump waste;

• Incinerators, that are really pollutant (thin dusts).

The discovery, instead, offers an integral solution to the waste disposal matter. The gathering of different plants and devices allows both to recycle all the waste fractions collected through the differentiated refuse disposal and, at the same time, to recover energy from some fractions using an hydrogen production technology called BLU TOWER.

The innovation of this system consists in the integration of different technologies that together can give rise to a new total solution for the matter of MSW disposal, an effective solution in all respects: costs, environment and popularity. It is useful to recycle all MSW fractions collected through the waste sorting and to recover energy from the waste fractions that cannot be recycled.

This recycling and energy recovering integrated system is the only new, global and effective answer to the needs of the law and the market of MSW final treatment.

In fact, since December 31, 2005 the dumps have stopped collecting undifferentiated waste and have adopted a differentiated refuse collection system. That involved the need to provide the territories with specific plants for recycling.

The Kyoto protocol, the EU Guidelines, the laws of EU member states and the primary sources continuous exhaustion impose the implementation of a waste disposal system that could accomplish a double aim: to not pollute and to allow the recovery of raw materials and energy.

The integrated system called Rienerg System is the only one on the international market that allows to recycle all waste fractions, as paper, plastic, organic, glass, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, and to recover Energy from non-recyclable fractions. All that has a positive environmental impact, with orderly benefits for the environment, and it is also economically sustainable and extremely advantageous. It straights out the disposal waste matter integrally and it is further useful to recover energy from the waste fractions for which recycling is not possible or is environmentally or economically unprofitable.

Considering the extreme complexity of the process, to make the employed technology more understandable and to describe it plainly, the process has been split into different sections on the basis of processed material type and consequent production.

To this day, nobody on the market has offered an integrated system able to answer completely and integrally the problem connected to MSW disposal.

Unlike the solutions offered on the market, that are directed to RDF (Refuse-derived fuel) production or to the construction of incinerators or recycling plants that process only some waste fractions, Rienerg System offers an efficient solution that allows the recycling of all fractions (paper, plastic, organic, glass, ferrous and non-ferrous metals) and the energy recovery from recycling activities rejects.

The different technologies employed in the new integrated system that solves the problem related to the MSW final disposal are efficient and consolidate.

The integrated System RIENERG SYSTEM ^® is designed in accordance with the in force law. It replaces incinerators and dumps achieving environmental, economic and occupational benefits.

• The plant is sized for the treatment of 80.000 tons of MSW per year, corresponding to a catchment area of 160.000 people, considering that a single man produces about 500 kg/y of MSW. However, the system production capacity is modular and could be increased according to one's needs.

» The plant is made for a standard working of 7.100 hours/y (considering also the stands for ordinary and extraordinary maintenance), that could be increased or reduced according to producing needs. Anyway, the limit granted exploitation is equal to 10.650 hours per year.

« The plant produces 8.000 tons/y of plastic raw materials; 35.000 tons/y of compost and manure; 2.99 MGWe/h of electric energy treating about 20.000 tons/y of waste and biomasses; other raw materials as paper, metals, glass are available for other processing cycles or for the transformation in finished products.

• Considering the plant areas and the small necessary areas for the transitional storage of inbound and outbound process materials, the area reserved for the industrial sheds is equal to 11.000 sm. Whereas the total area necessary for the whole industrial complex is equal to 30.000 sm. (including internal roads, green and parking areas, etc.).

» Besides the environmental facet, particular attention has been given to the economy facet.

From this point of view the system is largely sustainable, it gets products, raw materials and energy which generate such a certain turnover that allows the reduction of waste disposal costs. This system compared with dumps and incinerators makes us extremely proud of our achieved result.

FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION OF THE PRODUCTIVE PROCESS RIENERG SYSTEM ·

The integrated system RIENERG SYSTEM^® receives MSW as they are collected in the different Municipalities according to the in force law provisions about the differentiated refuse collection.

Carrying out the regulations on the subject and with the purpose of recycling it and recovering energy, the waste is collected in the following fractions:

• Organic -Biodegradable

» Glass

• Paper

» Plastic

» Metals

• Other refuses equal to about 20% of total undifferentiated waste.

The system has the use of areas for pre-stoking and post processing temporary storage. The storage areas are different for material and/or waste type, and are such large as to ensure 30 days of processing supply and 30 days of outputs storage before selling. The whole process hasn't any reject fraction. It is a closed process without processing rejects.

The following technical relation is shared out on the basis of the process modules and the type of treated waste.

PLASTIC RECYCLING LINE

The waste sorting material is phased in the plant melted or baled. The bales must be placed beside the starting belt, rid of laces and pushed on the belt. The untied plastic packages must be dropped straight on the stoking belt in a proper seat pit. The stoking process is done on a pit with a large-built rolling shutter belt on the bottom. The material is raised upward to a rotating sieve that removes:

• in-the first part, small pieces,

• in the central part, manufactured products, bottles and containers up to a volume of 5 It.,

• in the end part, agglomerates and coarse pieces economically not relevant for the successive recycling operations.

The waste materials collected through the belt management system together with the successive recycling waste is conveyed to a proper milling machine. From the mill the waste are conveyed to a mixer silo. From the rotating sieve, cut the fraction of materials up to a volume of 5 It., the plastic materials still heterogeneous are selected by an automatic optical device. From mixed plastics are removed HDPE and PET containers and bottles. HDPE fraction is moved in the respective recycling line aimed to get granules. While the PET fraction undergo a further color selection:

• transparent neutral or colourless PET bottles,

• light blue transparent PET bottles,

• polychrome or floral transparent PET bottles.

The result of this activity consists in obtaining a single kind of monochromatic polymers and it is necessary to recycle the different plastic materials. The HDPE bottles and containers are moved by a mechanical conveyance to an in-water mill. The ground material in transferred by a leaching cochlea in a settling tank with a double benefit: it is soothing and separates foreign bodies per density.

The ground material with a diameter of 12 mm is washed in a friction washer, a proper washing machine, that removes labels, glue and other impurities. This material is transferred by a pneumatic conveyance in a rinsing tank, after that it is extract and put in a spin-drier for a first drying.

At this stage the HDPE flakes are dehydrated and stored in a constant feeder that feeds an extruder grainer. After that the material is moved to a bag-filling station and packed in big bags. Now it is ready to be sold. The waste of HDPE automatic picking and recycling process is ground and mixed with biomasses to feed a small innovative power plant that produces hydrogen and energy.

The PET materials pulled apart by the automatic picker in three different coloured fractions are processed in a packaging press and stocked. The material undergo the recycling operations in^' colour campaigns. The recycling operations are the same for polymer regardless of colour. The material is sent to a constant feeder by a metal rolling shutter belt and moved by a pneumatic conveyance to a mill after the removal of iron from it. A particular air cyclone system pulls PET flakes apart from paper flakes. The dried paper waste is moved to the gasification plant while the PET flakes are washed to remove the most of polyolefins, residual label paper and floating pollutant.

For the complete cleaning of the flakes it is necessary to remove all residual labels, to detach and eliminate the glue processing them by heat to avoid that the glue spread on the flakes, and also to detach all the impurities firmly thrust upon the flakes.

All these fundamental functions are carried out by a single machine called AUTOMATIC WASHER that allows a substantial reduction of production and installation costs, of involved treating waters, of conditioning and heating chemical products. .

In the automatic washer, that in practice is a watertight reactor, the flakes are subjected to an high- temperature treatment, a nondestructive strong friction that causes the pulping of the labels and the hot-separation of the glue by melting. A strong fixed-temperature water flow removes these pollutants before the glue spread on the flakes. It is possible to regulate the friction force and the time of the treatment. The complete process takes.place in a continuous and automatic way.

Later the flakes are cleared of the parts lighter than the water in a floating tank where essentially the bottle tops PE is removed. A drying cycle with a fresh water rinse removes thin parts, residual pulped paper and water. A final hot air drying up eliminates the dampness. A metal detector separates magnetic particles from not magnetic ones. The product conform to UNI standard 10667 is packed in big-bags in a proper bag-filling weighing station.

A processing water treating plant allows to reuse water within saltiness limit, with COD and BOD allowed by the good functioning and with the best result to minimize water consumption. The inevitable purging must be moved to a dirty water treating plant which allows to extract the mud that has to be drained for feeding the hydrogen plant.

METAL RECYCLING LINE

The metals dumped and derived from other waste fractions processing phases are packed and sold to steel mills. The specific process is carried out by conveyor belts and detectors that separate ferrous and non-ferrous metals. There is also a packaging press that reduces the products volume, makes storage easier and reduces transportation costs. PAPER RECYCLING LINE

The paper collected with the differentiated waste disposal doesn't need specific treatments but it needs only a volume reduction to make easier and cheaper the transportation to paper-mills. For that purpose the system has a feeding and conveyor belt with an automatic tying packaging press.

COMPOST LINE

The organic biodegradable material collected by the door-to-door differentiated waste disposal is a relevant amount of SW. In fact of about 80.000 tons/y of waste, 30.000 tons/y are organic urban waste, more than 35%.

The patented process allows the production of high-quality compost and manure in 4 hours by using a particular patented material that enables to carry out the process quickly, to make the product inert, and to not emit bad smells.

That is how the production takes place:

1. A constant feeder transports the material to a feeding chamber directly, without pre-storage.

2. After a metal check made by magnets and galvanic power-operated detectors, it is sent to a mill.

3. The ground material is extracted by a leaching cochlea and feeds a compost chamber that consists of a metal airtight chamber equipped with a catalyst additive dispenser. This is the heart of the compost system.

4. After 4 hours in the airtight chamber thanks to the catalyst action and the blending made by three rotating augers the compost maturates.

5. The mature product is sterilized and transferred to the bag-filling station where it is packaged in 10, 25 or 50 It. bags.

6. The finished product is stocked and sold to nursery-gardening companies that nowadays in Italy import foreign compost.

GLASS RECYCLING LINE

The dumped glass is collected in the storage area and moved to the process feeding mouth by an internal conveyor. After the check for removing the metals the glass is ground up to a granulometry of 1-1,5 mm. Then it is transferred to the bag-filling station and sold. NON RECYCLABLE WASTE MANGEMENT LINE

All the processing waste are conveyed to a mill station and mixed up to 50% with biomasses. This mix of waste and biomasses forms the raw material for the hydrogen gasification process and the subsequent power generation from renewable sources.

RENEWABLE SOURCES FUEL PRODUCTION LINE

The line allows the grinding of biomasses and re cycling waste, such a mix of these two fractions as to homogenize the fuel suitable for feeding the hydrogen production process.

POWER PRODUCTION LINE

The line allows to produce hydrogen by a step-by-step re-construction and by using the gas in a such internal combustion engine (ICE) as to allow the power production.

The several processing lines are interconnected by such efficient conveyor systems as to allow the management of the different recycling activities waste and to make the system integrated and considered as a single process.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. The continuous or discontinuous integration between several recycling processing lines (plastic, organic/biodegradable, glass, paper, metals) and the energy recovery;

2. The continuous or discontinuous integration between the organic-biodegradable waste fraction compost system and the energy recovery from other waste fractions;

3. The continuous or discontinuous integration between the plastics recycle and the system for recovering energy from waste and rejects of plastics, MSW or other waste recycling activities.