White pozzolan manufactured from post-consumer waste glass, products incorporating the same and methods of manufacturing the same

• US 7,931,220 B2
• Filed: 05/15/2008
• Issued: 04/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Urban Mining Industries LLC
• Original Assignee: Empire Resource Recovery LLC
• Inventors: Kracko, Elliot, Grasso, Patrick S. Sr., Grasso, Louis P. Jr., Grasso, Louis P. Sr., Andela, Cynthia A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rosenbaum; Mark
• Application Number:
  US12/120,761
• Publication Number:
  US 20090283018A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,076 Days
• Field of Search: 241/79.1, 241/152.2, 241/99, 241/60, 241/184, 241/14, 241/24.22, 241/DIG.38
• US Class Current: 241/60
• CPC Class Codes: B02C 17/22 Lining for containers
• CPC Class Codes: B02C 21/00 Disintegrating plant with or without drying of the material for grain B02C9/04
• CPC Class Codes: B02C 23/08 Separating or sorting of material, associated with crushing or disintegrating B02C23/18 takes precedence ; beater mills combined with sifting devices B02C13/13, B02C13/14; for tumbling mills B02C17/1835
• CPC Class Codes: B03B 9/062 the refuse being glass
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 14/22 Glass ; Devitrified glass
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 20/008 Micro- or nanosized fillers, e.g. micronised fillers with particle size smaller than that of the hydraulic binder colloidal silica C04B14/062 ; silica fume C04B18/146
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 20/026 Comminuting, e.g. by grinding or breaking; Defibrillating fibres other than asbestos
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 28/04 Portland cements
• CPC Class Codes: Y02W 30/52 Mechanical processing of waste for the recovery of materials, e.g. crushing, shredding, separation or disassembly
• CPC Class Codes: Y02W 30/60 Glass recycling

Abstract

A clean dry white glass powder useful as a substitute for Portland cement in concrete, in paints, and for other known uses for glass powder produced conventionally can be produced from unsorted post-consumer waste glass, including a substantial fraction of non-glass items, by employing glass pulverizing equipment to reduce waste glass to small fragments, allowing removal of trash, employing a multistep washing process to clean the glass fragments, in the preferred embodiment using aggregate cleaning equipment, drying the fragments, preferably using fluidized bed techniques, and grinding the glass to a desired particle size, preferably using a ball mill, in combination with an air classification step to produce a bright white glass powder of uniform particle size.

Claims

1. An apparatus for manufacturing a pozzolanic white glass powder from a stream of post-consumer waste glass containing items of non-frangible materials, comprising:

a) equipment for pulverizing the stream in a manner such that consumer waste glass in the stream is reduced to fragments of an average maximum size, while non-frangible items are not reduced to said size;

b) equipment for performing a size-based separation of the reduced glass fragments from the non-frangible items;

c) equipment for washing the reduced glass fragments;

d) equipment for drying the washed glass fragments; and

e) a mill for grinding the dried glass fragments into a white powder, said mill having a non-metallic surface lining a grinding chamber of said mill such that the dried glass fragments and the white powder are in contact with said non-metallic surface of said mill while said mill is grinding the dried glass, wherein said non-metallic surface does not impart a non-white discoloration to the white powder during grinding.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

said mill provides a white glass powder with a brightness of 77 to 80 using the ASTM E 313 standard practice.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:

said chamber of said mill includes a drum, and said non-metallic surface is a stone lining of said drum.

4. An apparatus according to claim 3, wherein:

said stone is quartz.

5. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

grinding media in said mill, said grinding media having a non-metallic surface.

6. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein:

said grinding media has a ceramic surface.

7. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein:

said grinding media are ceramic cylinders.

8. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein:

said apparatus in conjunction with said grinding media provides a white glass powder with a brightness of 77 to 80 using the ASTM E 313 standard practice.

9. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a classifier that separates the white glass powder from remaining larger glass particulate.

10. An apparatus according to claim 9, wherein:

said classifier is lined with a non-metallic material along a pathway through which the glass powder is moved during the separation.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein:

said classifier is an air classifier.

12. An apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising:

grinding media in said mill, said grinding media having a non-metallic surface, and

said chamber of said mill includes a drum, and said non-metallic surface is a stone lining of said drum.