Continuous process and apparatus for the separation of recyclable material from and the disinfection of infectious medical waste
First Claim
1. A process for the continuous treatment of infectious waste material, which comprises:
- (a) introducing bulk unseparated infectious waste material comprising pulpable components and nonpulpable components into a receiving container means, said receiving container means being in communication with a primary shredding means whereby bulk unseparated infectious waste material supplied to said receiving container means is conducted to said primary shredding means;
(b) shredding said bulk unseparated waste material by said primary shredding means;
(c) transferring the shredded waste material from said primary shredding means to a pulping means having a means to provide a predetermined fluid level to said pulping means, said pulping means effective for repulping said pulpable components and creating a pulped slurry therefrom and also effective for creating a nonpulpable slurry from said nonpulpable components and separating said pulped slurry from said nonpulpable slurry;
(d) transferring said pulped slurry from said pulping means to a first reactor vessel means, said first reactor vessel means comprising a first reactor means communicating in series relationship with at least one second reactor means, and transferring said nonpulpable slurry from said pulping means to a separator means to separate and remove from said nonpulpable slurry glass and metal components contained therein and to form a separated nonpulpable slurry and thereafter transferring said separated nonpulpable slurry to a second reactor vessel means, said second reactor vessel means comprising a primary tank means communicating in series relationship with at least one second tank means;
(e) contacting, in said first reactor vessel means, said pulped slurry with a disinfecting fluid comprising ozone in gas phase and in aqueous solution, said contacting being achieved by flowing said pulped slurry and said disinfecting fluid through a mixer of said fist reactor means for mixing said pulped slurry with said disinfecting fluid and flowing the resulting mixture into said first reactor means of said first reactor vessel means, retaining the resulting mixture in said first reactor means for sufficient time to achieve at least partial disinfection of said pulped slurry and further discharging from said first reactor means undissolved gas which emits from the resulting mixture, said contacting being further achieved by additionally mixing said pulped slurry from said first reactor means with disinfecting fluid in a mixer of said at least one second reactor means and flowing the resulting mixture into said at least one second reactor means of said first reactor vessel means, retaining the resulting mixture in said at least one second reactor means for sufficient time to achieve substantially complete disinfection of said pulped slurry and further discharging from said at least one second reactor means undissolved gas which emits from the resulting mixture, and contacting, in said second reactor vessel means, said separated nonpulpable slurry from said separator means with said disinfecting fluid, said contacting being achieved by flowing said separated nonpulpable slurry and said disinfecting fluid through a mixer of said primary tank means for mixing said separated nonpulpable slurry with said disinfecting fluid and flowing the resulting mixture into said primary tank means of said second reactor vessel means, retaining the resulting mixture in said primary tank means for sufficient time to achieve at least partial disinfection of said separated nonpulpable slurry and further discharging from said primary tank means undissolved gas which emits from the resulting mixture, said contacting being further achieved by additionally mixing said separated nonpulpable slurry from said primary tank means with said disinfecting fluid in a mixer of said at least one second tank means of said second reactor vessel means and flowing the resulting mixture into said at least one second tank means, retaining the resulting mixture in said at least one second tank means for sufficient time to achieve substantially complete disinfection of said separated nonpulpable slurry and further discharging from said at least one second tank means undissolved gas which emits from the resulting mixture; and
(f) transferring said disinfected pulped slurry from said at least one second reactor means and transferring said disinfected separated nonpulpable slurry from said at least one second tank means to dewatering means to remove liquid therefrom and to recover solid disinfected waste material.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A process and apparatus for continuously treating infectious waste, which comprises: (a) introducing bulk unseparated infectious waste material into a receiving container means, the receiving container means adapted to receive a flow of disinfectant such that the receiving container means remains substantially free of infectious contaminants; (b) shredding the waste material by a primary shredding means; (c) separating the shredded waste material from waste residue in a separation tank means having a predetermined fluid level thereby producing a waste slurry; (d) pumping the waste slurry into a reactor vessel means; (e) contacting the waste slurry with a disinfecting fluid in the reactor vessel means for a sufficient amount of time to disinfect the waste slurry; and (f) dewatering the disinfected waste slurry to recover solid disinfected waste material.
The process and apparatus is also adapted to separate and treat recyclable materials, such as pulpable materials, glass, metal, and the like, found in the incoming waste stream.
-
Citations
27 Claims
-
1. A process for the continuous treatment of infectious waste material, which comprises:
-
(a) introducing bulk unseparated infectious waste material comprising pulpable components and nonpulpable components into a receiving container means, said receiving container means being in communication with a primary shredding means whereby bulk unseparated infectious waste material supplied to said receiving container means is conducted to said primary shredding means; (b) shredding said bulk unseparated waste material by said primary shredding means; (c) transferring the shredded waste material from said primary shredding means to a pulping means having a means to provide a predetermined fluid level to said pulping means, said pulping means effective for repulping said pulpable components and creating a pulped slurry therefrom and also effective for creating a nonpulpable slurry from said nonpulpable components and separating said pulped slurry from said nonpulpable slurry; (d) transferring said pulped slurry from said pulping means to a first reactor vessel means, said first reactor vessel means comprising a first reactor means communicating in series relationship with at least one second reactor means, and transferring said nonpulpable slurry from said pulping means to a separator means to separate and remove from said nonpulpable slurry glass and metal components contained therein and to form a separated nonpulpable slurry and thereafter transferring said separated nonpulpable slurry to a second reactor vessel means, said second reactor vessel means comprising a primary tank means communicating in series relationship with at least one second tank means; (e) contacting, in said first reactor vessel means, said pulped slurry with a disinfecting fluid comprising ozone in gas phase and in aqueous solution, said contacting being achieved by flowing said pulped slurry and said disinfecting fluid through a mixer of said fist reactor means for mixing said pulped slurry with said disinfecting fluid and flowing the resulting mixture into said first reactor means of said first reactor vessel means, retaining the resulting mixture in said first reactor means for sufficient time to achieve at least partial disinfection of said pulped slurry and further discharging from said first reactor means undissolved gas which emits from the resulting mixture, said contacting being further achieved by additionally mixing said pulped slurry from said first reactor means with disinfecting fluid in a mixer of said at least one second reactor means and flowing the resulting mixture into said at least one second reactor means of said first reactor vessel means, retaining the resulting mixture in said at least one second reactor means for sufficient time to achieve substantially complete disinfection of said pulped slurry and further discharging from said at least one second reactor means undissolved gas which emits from the resulting mixture, and contacting, in said second reactor vessel means, said separated nonpulpable slurry from said separator means with said disinfecting fluid, said contacting being achieved by flowing said separated nonpulpable slurry and said disinfecting fluid through a mixer of said primary tank means for mixing said separated nonpulpable slurry with said disinfecting fluid and flowing the resulting mixture into said primary tank means of said second reactor vessel means, retaining the resulting mixture in said primary tank means for sufficient time to achieve at least partial disinfection of said separated nonpulpable slurry and further discharging from said primary tank means undissolved gas which emits from the resulting mixture, said contacting being further achieved by additionally mixing said separated nonpulpable slurry from said primary tank means with said disinfecting fluid in a mixer of said at least one second tank means of said second reactor vessel means and flowing the resulting mixture into said at least one second tank means, retaining the resulting mixture in said at least one second tank means for sufficient time to achieve substantially complete disinfection of said separated nonpulpable slurry and further discharging from said at least one second tank means undissolved gas which emits from the resulting mixture; and (f) transferring said disinfected pulped slurry from said at least one second reactor means and transferring said disinfected separated nonpulpable slurry from said at least one second tank means to dewatering means to remove liquid therefrom and to recover solid disinfected waste material. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. An apparatus for the continuous treatment of infectious waste material, which comprises:
-
(a) a receiving container means for receiving bulk unseparated infectious waste material comprising pulpable components and nonpulpable components; (b) a primary shredding means in communication with said receiving container means for reducing the particle size of said bulk unseparated infectious waste material and forming a shredded waste material; (c) a pulping means in communication with said primary shredding means, said pulping means having a fluid filling means for providing a predetermined fluid level in said pulping means, for repulping said pulpable components and creating a pulped slurry therefrom and also effective for creating a nonpulpable slurry from said nonpulpable components and separating said pulped slurry from said nonpulpable slurry; (d) a separator in communication with said pulping means for receiving said nonpulpable slurry from said pulping means and separating and removing therefrom glass and metal components contained therein thereby forming a separated nonpulpable slurry; (e) a reaction zone for disinfecting said pulped slurry and said separated nonpulpable slurry, said reaction zone comprising; (i) a first reactor vessel means communicating with said pulping means for receiving said pulped slurry, said first reactor vessel means comprising a first reactor means communicating in series relationship with at least one second reactor means for disinfecting said pulped slurry; (ii) a second reactor vessel means communicating with said separator for receiving said separated nonpulpable slurry, said second reactor vessel means comprising a primary tank means communicating in series relationship with at least one second tank means for disinfecting said separated nonpulpable slurry; (iii) a disinfecting fluid generating means communicating with each of said first reactor vessel means and said second rector vessel means for continuously introducing a disinfecting fluid, comprising ozone in gas phase and in aqueous solution, into said first and second reactor vessel means, said first reactor means being provided with a mixer to mix said disinfecting fluid, comprising ozone in gas phase and in aqueous solution, into said first and second reactor vessel means, said first reactor means being provided with a mixer to mix said disinfecting fluid with said pulped slurry received from said pulping means, said at least one second reactor means being provided with a mixer to mix said disinfecting fluid with said pulped slurry received from said first reactor means, said primary tank means being provided with a mixer to mix said disinfecting fluid with said nonpulpable slurry received from said separator, said at least one second tank means being provided with a mixer to mix said disinfecting fluid with said nonpulpable slurry received from said primary tank means, each of said first reactor means and said at least one second reactor means being further provided with a discharge vent to discharge undissolved gas from said pulped slurry and each of said primary tank means and said at least one second tank means being further provided with a discharge vent to discharge undissolved gas from said nonpulpable slurry; and (f) dewatering means communicating with said first and second reactor vessel means, for receiving and recovering solid, disinfected waste material from the disinfected slurry. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
-
Specification