Waste recovery and material handling process to replace the traditional trash transfer station and landfil by extracting reusable material and energy from joined refuse streams to include; office waste, dry waste, wet garbage and the special hazardous material handling of biological, chemical, and nuclear waste

• US 20050080520A1
• Filed: 09/20/2004
• Published: 04/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Richard Clark Walker, Robert Kline
• Original Assignee: Richard Clark Walker, Robert Kline
• Inventors: Kline, Robert, Walker, Richard Clark
• Application Number:
  US10/943,897
• Publication Number:
  US 20050080520A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/1
• CPC Class Codes: B03B 9/06 specially adapted for refuse
• CPC Class Codes: B65F 1/0006 Flexible refuse receptables, e.g. bags, sacks
• CPC Class Codes: B65F 1/062 having means for storing or dispensing spare bags
• CPC Class Codes: B65F 2250/108 Paper
• CPC Class Codes: F03G 7/00 Mechanical-power-producing mechanisms, not otherwise provided for or using energy sources not otherwise provided for
• CPC Class Codes: F03G 7/0252 Motors; Energy harvesting or waste energy recovery
• CPC Class Codes: F03G 7/04 using pressure differences or thermal differences occurring in nature F03G7/06 takes precedence

Abstract

This innovative technology involves stationary as well as, portable application in the form of a waste material recovery and conversion center/power plant, which is termed The Recovery Center. It has been created to replace the traditional unsanitary trash transfer station and its final repository the landfill and or city dump. The invention is ecologically friendly, reduces the nation'"'"'s dependency on oil, and is politically acceptable and publicly embraced as a good neighbor business for any community. The process taught separates wet waste from dry waste and recyclables during the collection process and at the center via smart routing of refuse vehicles and progressive plant automation. One big advantage is that the same vehicle is used for most all the waste and recyclable tonnage in a single area. These united loads are isolated by special bagging and dumped on a tipping floor at the Recovery center where multiple loads are divided into dry trash, office paper, co-mingle recyclables, cardboard and flat dry waste. Wet and dry waste are processed by an auger feeds as a consistent past quality fuel stock into either a gassifier reactors, or an incinerator steam boiler with stack and scrubbers to drive turbines and generators. Along with waste to energy conversion other value added products are recovered from the waste stream and sold locally, nationally and internationally. A stationary Recovery Center is contained in a metal building structure and placed on a concrete slab, while the portable center is in modular form contained in containers and transported by road and or rail car to a permanent of temporary location for use. The invention is designed to give municipalities choices in the way they handle their waste, produce energy, use energy, develop employment from recovery manufacturing, and recapture valuable real estate from their legacy landfills.

Claims

1. A Recovery Center claim is made for the separation, redistribution and or conversion technology to recover and or reuse paper fiber product and or other recyclables and to produce energy via efficient automated and progressive material handling, that identifies consolidates, compresses, combusts, reconstructs and or converts hauled municipal waste into value added products or fuel to reduce the need for trash transfer stations and landfill space, either past or present, and to reduce a city'"'"'s dependency on fossil fuels for the production of electricity, recyclables value added products, and heat to either operate waste and or recycling operations and or other synergistic industrial, commercial and or community operations.

2. A claim according to claim 1 (one) is made for the clean combustion of reduced dry refuse and or specially prepared wet garbage to fuel boilers and create steam to drive generators and create electrical power for the center, and to sell any excess power generated back to the local utilities and the regional grid, and to use the excess heat for internal center processes and or to sell excess heat or steam back to the local community and its residents for commercial and private use.

3. A claim according to claim 1 (one) is made for the gasifying process to covert specially prepared dry waste and or wet garbage to combustible gaseous fuel, to fuel internal combustion engines and or turbines to power generators to produce electricity, and through the same gasification process to further convert waste materials to reclaim condensed oils, tars and sterile ash, that can be mixed and compressed with other building materials to produce building block;

and the combination of both clean smoke stack waste to energy conversion in claim 2 two used with the gasification waste to energy process in claim 3 fall within the nature an scope of the invention an automated management technology for the handling and recovery of materials and substance.

4. A claim according to claim 1 (one) is made for the bagging of paper in translucent to transparent colored plastic bags at the source commercial or residential waste streams to quickly identify and separate different types of paper and recyclable products within a municipal refuse stream.

5. A claim according to claim 1 (one) is made to initiate source sorting for the center via educational programs either public or private funded that go out in the community and educate the commercial and residential public to the most efficient way to handle waste and recyclables for the center to be proficient and protective of personal privacy information on individuals.

6. A claim is made according to claim 1 (one) for the on site destruction of sensitive and or private documentation;

for the secured containment of sensitive or private documentation at the desk of origin and for the secure material handling of that material to and through the center to it'"'"'s final destruction and or recycled to an unidentifiable raw material state.

7. A claim according to claim 1 (one) is made for the special routing of specific refuse trucks to pick up dry waste and recyclable paper only known as office waste, and restrict these trucks from handling refuse materials known as wet garbage food, or bio or chemical hazardous waste such as human or animal waste products to effectively start a gross sorting process for the center.

8. A claim according to claim 1 (one) is made for the special routing of specific refuse trucks to pick up refuse known as wet garbage with food, refuse and restrict the picking up dry waste and recyclable paper known as office waste, as well as bio or chemical hazardous waste such as human or animal waste products medicinal disposals and industrial waste to effectively start a gross sorting process for the center.

9. A claim according to claim 1 (one) is made for the special routing of specific refuse trucks to pick up refuse known as Bio and or chemical waste as hazardous material and restricted from transporting any other forms of waste materials.

10. A claim according to claim 1 (one) is made for another transportation modality utilizing one vehicle pick up with separate isolated chambers or compartments to initiate and or maintain sorting integrity of like materials at the point of automotive pick up.

11. A claim is made according to claim 1 (one) to automate from a protected human participation to a non-human operation of medical and bio-waste material handling from pick up to incineration or gasification as part of the necessary BTU energy to drive either the steam or turbine generators to produce electricity, and to use this same application to destroy or destruct sensitive and or private documentation, that is guarded secured and certified so from source to consumption.

12. A claim is made according to claim 1 (one) for a new and unique recovery center that separates and recycles, office waste paper, cardboard, hard white, white ledger, mixed paper, colored paper, books news, glass, cans from wood, dry wall, metal, construction block, brick as well as processes biomass ecologically through converting the bulk rubbish into community mulch and producing electricity from rotting garbage thereby replacing the former unsanitary and unsafe trash transfer stations and their unsafe and unhealthy final repositories the municipal landfill.

13. A claim according to claim 1 (one) and further to claim 12 (twelve) is made for any federal, state, county, local, city and or municipal government'"'"' to specially and specifically license this new and unique modality to handle refuse and recyclables synergistically and with automatic reporting, thereby creating value added product and material on location in a much safer environment to be treated as a more optimal technology that provides a higher standard of waste handling and is a more acceptable replacement to legacy technologies i.e.;

MRFS, recyclers, trash transfer stations and landfill operations where government must regulate and police differently, more strictly and manually.

14. A further claim according to claim 1(one) is made for the center to have a large flat receiving area for refuse and recycling trucks to unload their combined and or pre-separated loads for further rough sorting of like materials, recyclable products and wet garbage, which is slotted for reduction and energy conversion, and that the receiving area be termed the Tipping Area or Floor and the resulting distribution process be called the Presort And Feed Stock Area.

15. A further material handling claim according to claim 1 (one) is made for the separation and distribution of like refuse materials, recyclables and wet garbage by material moving equipment to include but not limited to skid steer loaders, and loaders with grapple buckets, forklifts with forks and clamps, articulating loaders, track and fixed crane and grapples or clam buckets;

sorting screens constructed with rotating disks spaced to catch card board, flat objects and building materials i.e. plywood, drywall, with a waste removal belt below the rotating sort disks;

waste below is further separated through a series of conveyor belts trommels and special chambers that identify material qualities and sort by them i.e. magnets, eddy currents, Optical Recognition Systems to include but not limited to light, video, vibration, sound, weight sensing;

and human labor, which is more greatly utilized in initial recovery center set ups and then coupled with more automation to increase volume with the same labor.

16. A further equipment claim according to claim 1 (one) is made for the use of conveyor belts, sorting belts, blowers, tumblers, magnets, bins, containers, and for hoppers to store, transport and separate, route and load recyclables and consolidated dry waste into compaction and baling equipment, transport vehicles and or auger and shredders to fuel boilers or gassifiers to energize turbines to drive generators and produce electricity.

17. A claim of technical synergy according to claim 1 (one) is made for the center to recover news and other suitable paper fiber, and process it in a pauper to produce value added paper stock products by using the excess heat generated from the gasification or production of steam for electricity to also dry the pulp paper products.

18. A claim of recycling according to claim 1 (one) is made for the collection and designed crushing of glass per applications 1 through 6 for use as follows 1. for construction and landscaping fill, 2. aquatic or aquifer straining mechanism or screen to trap solid contaminants in fluids, 3. to pack radioactive waste containers in to keep them dry, stable and isolated in Yucca mountain as well as provide an energy depleting medium, and 4. to support underground nuclear vaults and tunnel structures from shocks of earthquakes as well geological shifts, with 5. the added benefit from glass refraction/reflection qualities to trap particle energy expenditure from the stored nuclear waste products, and 6. use recycled glass as packing or storage medium for shipments of nuclear waste in casks to maintain a stabilized environment. 7. tumbled glass to make decorative smooth stones.

19. A Homeland Security Claim is made for the recovery center according to claim 1 (one) to detect terrorist activities and or unsafe, unauthorized and or hazardous use of equipment, materials and substances via sensors, computers and wireless to include;

the PFN/TRAC System and PS1/HS1 sensor suites for monitoring and managing transportation and material movement of refuse, both, waste and recyclables to include the separation, sorting, reuse and or storage of materials or by products in a community and elsewhere.

20. A further electronics claim according to claim 1(one) is made for the center'"'"'s automated management system'"'"'s capacity to detect and processes alert signals that are generated from the electronic recognition of hazardous materials and or substances flowing in the waste stream as well as pinpoint material origins, and notify the appropriate authorities and first responders of such occurrences in real-time or near real-time.

21. A further claim according to claim 1 (one) is made for the detection of dangerous microbes/bio-hazards, chemical molecules and elements to include radio-active contaminants.

22. A further claim according to claim 1 (one) is made for the multiple delivery of alert signals as national security data to the appropriate agencies and local responders simultaneously.

23. A claim according to claim 1 (one) is made for the local and multiple recording of data at the PFN and HS-1 sensor suite level and at the mass data storage level in the control center and with encrypted archive files generated at all internet and intranet contacts simultaneously.

24. A claim according to claim 1 (one) is made for the formation of an advanced detection agency or operation with inter agency and inter-industry cooperation and operation to develop standards for alert status and protocols for monitoring and managing waste stream products to include the process and flow for hazardous materials such as (e.g. Red bag Bio/chemical medical waste products, (which are prime materials for dirty bombs and terrorists) to their safe destruction reuse or storage and for emergency scenarios with first responders and homeland security.

25. A claim according to claim 1 (one) is made for the recovery center to recognize and handle safe processes by which hazardous waste e.g. red bag waste is separated and destroyed through isolation and incineration and to include final disposition of hazardous material either via sensing and monitoring the smoke stack particles to insure safe air emission levels are maintained;

and to develop similar and specific standard identification criterion and handling procedures and protocols to be employed in gasification technology, micro wave treatment, and chemical treatments at the recovery center, and to be specific there to.

27. A claim according to claim 1 (one) is made for the standardization of this recovery facility and technology to include protocols developed by government and industry standards efforts to monitor the nations waste stream for dangerous materials that could be used by terrorist to negatively affect public safety, national security and the economy and to further design a cookie cutter or modular approach to the country'"'"'s Municipalities waste handling needs, where the technology taught in this specification can be used to combine disparate recycling and trash hauling to day

28. A claim according to claim 1 (one) is made for the elimination of Trash Transfer Stations with the recovery center becoming a redistribution center for waste materials to be processed into raw materials and sub products for shipment to other manufacturing processes or sold locally as value added product.

29. A claim is made according to claim 1 (one) for the elimination of landfills as the final resting place for municipal waste and garbage to decompose, due initially to recovery center technology located near the source of the trash and waste producers, and secondly when it is placed near existing land fills to re-harvest the slow to decompose waste into value added products, energy and to reclaim the real estate in a favorable manner to the community, and raise the value of the location for other use.

30. A claim according to claim 1 (one) is made for a modular mobile version of The Recovery Center (the Invention to be trucked or transported by rail to a location for the rapid processing of waste materials and recyclable products, and to make sub products, fuel and electrical energy.

31. A claim according to claim 1 (one) for urban and community improvement is made for the Recovery Center technology, the invention to include increased, employment, increased value and public safety for past landfill property, elimination of trash transfer stations, greater recycling in type and volume, more alternative energy produced, and less waste residually stored in landfill operations

32. A claim according to claim 1 (one) is made for a wireless stop or kill button to improve industrial safety that allows a person operating around equipment to stop the equipment through remote control, robotics and or pre-programmed automation that recognizes when the person is in harms way of the operating equipment.

33. A further claim of accessory function is made according to claim 1 (one) for the PFN/TRAC system to incorporate this locate and or equipment stop function in the 1Ps personal PFN/TRAC units worn by individuals and to responsive with any relevant equipment, with further claim for this capacity with any other wireless device or personal communication device such as but not limited to;

Cellular phones, wireless PDAs, hand held radios, walkie-talkies, application specific stop or kill buttons and or personal RF beacons.

41. An information technology and material handling claim according to claim 1(one) is made for material handling equipment either mobile or stationary to transmit and receive data and information with a shipping and or receiving department via wireless computer interfacing;

and further that the hardware and software on the material handling equipment have the capacity to read and transmit, receive and print bar code data and information, RFID data, magnetic strip data and or any arbitrary shipping and or receiving data or information as well as, pre pare or generate the appropriate labels for the materials being handled;

and further that this capacity is made for the PFN/TRAC System Units 1E, 1P, 1SV, 1A, 1M, 1RR

42. A claim according to claim 1 (one)is made for the use of gassifiers to generate electricity heat and oils as part of A Recovery Center technology that produces value added products from waste materials and the energy they can provide.

26. A claim according to claim (one) for certification is made for the recovery center to provide part or all of the following certified functions both flexible and application specific to the municipality or installation'"'"'s needs;

a qualified, Document Destruction Operation, Hazardous Material Handling Facility, for Biological and or Chemical Waste materials, Paper Fiber recycling, wet garbage or Municipal Waste Facility, Dry Waste, Office waste, Building Materials, Scrap Metal Re-distribution Center and Municipal Biomass Waste with mulching and or composting.

34. A claim is made for a plastic bag design to have an elastic top that hold the bag open and in place when placed over a waste container and then automatically closes when released from the container.

36. A claim according to claim 34 is made for another plastic bag modality to employ four or multiple rubber bands around the circumference of the bag to first attach the bag to the waste container to hold it up and open and then secondly to close the container to hold contents in and give flexible expansion to a neck orifice to allow compressed air out of the bag without rupturing it upon compaction.

37. A further claim according to claim 34 is made for the multiple stacking of these bags in the bottom of a waste container for easy replacement during the changing of the bags both as a manufacturing quality and or in use.

38. A claim according to claim 34 (thirty four) is made for the use of plastic bags to materially handle different waste, and to identify that waste by bag color or barcode or RFID technology or tagging or labeling or transparency to visually identify or translucent color shading visually identify for the purpose to aid in routing and or sorting of materials to recycle and or recover and or destroy or secure and handle in a safe manner.

35. A further claim according to 34 is made for the bag to be manufactured in a pile or set of 4 to 12 bags to be set in the container bottom for rapid installation upon removal of the filled one and or to be utilized in this manner.

39. A claim is made for a plastic bag with holes to allow air to pass out of the bag without rupturing the bag when compressed while retaining the contents of the bag.

40. A claim is made according to 34 or 39 for manual and or machine gross sorting of bagged materials deposited from collection vehicles to include but not limited to the automated debagging of the materials.