SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONVERTING FOOD WASTE INTO FUEL

• US 20160002549A1
• Filed: 06/12/2013
• Published: 01/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology
• Original Assignee: Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology
• Inventors: KIM, TAE HYUNG, KIM, EUN JU
• Granted Patent: US 10,138,436 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 2200/0469 Renewables or materials of biological origin
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 2290/02 Combustion or pyrolysis
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 2290/06 Heat exchange, direct or indirect
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 2290/26 Composting, fermenting or anaerobic digestion fuel components or materials from which fuels are prepared
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 2290/36 Applying radiation such as microwave, IR, UV
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 2290/58 Control or regulation of the fuel preparation of upgrading process
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 3/06 Natural gas; Synthetic natural gas obtained by processes not covered by C10G, C10K3/02 or C10K3/04 liquefying by pressure and cold treatment F25J
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 3/08 Production of synthetic natural gas
• CPC Class Codes: C10L 5/46 on sewage, house, or town refuse C10L5/403, C10L5/406 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 50/10 Biofuels, e.g. bio-diesel
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 50/30 Fuel from waste, e.g. synthetic alcohol or diesel

Abstract

A system for converting food waste into fuel includes at least one thermal decomposition reactor. The at least one thermal decomposition reactor is configured to transfer an organic waste, that is, food waste, through a region on which a sunlight is concentrated by at least one solar concentrator. A fermenter is disposed at a front end of the at least one thermal decomposition reactor, and any thermal energy remaining after being used in the at least one thermal decomposition reactor is additionally used in fermentation of the food waste. A method of converting food waste into fuel is also provided.

Claims

1. A system for converting food waste into fuel by thermally decomposing the food waste, comprising:

a food waste storage tank in which food waste collected from a region is stored;

at least one solar concentrator configured to collect a sunlight and concentrate the sunlight on a predetermined region;

at least one thermal decomposition reactor disposed in the predetermined region on which the sunlight is concentrated by the at least one solar concentrator and configured to discharge a product through thermal decomposition of the food waste;

a transferring device configured to transfer the food waste to the at least one thermal decomposition reactor from the food waste storage tank; and

a fermenter disposed at a front end of the at least one thermal decomposition reactor, configured to temporarily contain the food waste transferred from the food waste storage tank before provision to the at least one thermal decomposition reactor so as to ferment the food waste,

wherein the food waste is transferred in the at least one thermal decomposition reactor and thermally decomposed while passing through the predetermined region on which the sunlight is concentrated by the at least one solar concentrator, and the transferring device transfers the food waste in the at least one thermal decomposition reactor at a controlled speed to thermally decompose the food waste.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a collecting duct configured to collect a biogas generated from the at least one thermal decomposition reactor and an air containing an odor, which are separated from the product.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the biogas is methane gas.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a controller configured to control a transfer speed of the transferring device, a driving of the at least one solar concentrator, and a thermal decomposition reaction in the at least one thermal decomposition reactor.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the food waste thermally decomposed in the at least one thermal decomposition reactor is discharged through the region in which the fermenter is disposed to provide thermal energy to ferment the food waste contained in the fermenter.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one solar concentrator comprises a plurality of solar concentrators and the at least one thermal decomposition reactor comprises a plurality of thermal decomposition reactors, and each thermal decomposition reactor is disposed in the predetermined region of each solar collector on which the sunlight is collected and provides the food waste in an amount that can be treated by each solar concentrator, and the transfer speed of the provided food waste is controlled.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one thermal decomposition reactor and the fermenter are formed to be sealed to remove an odor.

8. A method of converting food waste into fuel by thermally decomposing the food waste, comprising:

a) collecting food waste and storing the food waste in a food waste storage tank;

b) transferring the food waste stored in the food waste storage tank to at least one thermal decomposition reactor via a fermenter;

c) temporarily containing the food waste stored in the food waste storage tank and fermenting the food waste in the fermenter;

d) concentrating a sunlight on a predetermined region by at least one solar concentrator;

e) thermally decomposing the transferred food waste in the at least one thermal decomposition reactor disposed in the predetermined region on which the sunlight is concentrated and producing a product containing a biogas; and

f) collecting the product discharged from the at least one thermal decomposition reactor,

wherein the food waste is transferred in the at least one thermal decomposition reactor and thermally decomposed while passing through the predetermined region on which the sunlight is concentrated by the at least one solar concentrator.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the food waste thermally decomposed in the at least one thermal decomposition reactor in operation (e) is discharged through the region in which the fermenter is disposed to provide thermal energy to ferment the food waste contained in the fermenter.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the food waste is transferred in the at least one thermal decomposition reactor at a controlled speed to thermally decompose the food waste, by the transferring device in operation (c).

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the at least one solar concentrator comprises a plurality of solar concentrators and the at least one thermal decomposition reactor comprises a plurality of thermal decomposition reactors, each thermal decomposition reactor is disposed in the predetermined region of each solar collector on which the sunlight is collected, and is provided with the food waste in an amount that can be treated by each solar concentrator.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein in operation f), a biogas generated from the at least one thermal decomposition reactor and an air containing odor are separated from the product and collected.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the biogas is methane gas.