Mechanized separation of mixed solid waste and recovery of recyclable products
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for recovering recyclable materials from mixed solid waste stream, comprising:
- providing a mixed waste stream comprising at least two recyclable materials selected from the group consisting of paper, plastic, and non-ferrous metal, the recyclable materials including 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional materials;
shredding the mixed waste stream in a shredder to produce a shredded mixed waste having 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional recyclable materials;
fractionating the shredded mixed waste stream by size in a size separator to produce a plurality of sized waste streams, wherein an over sized waste stream includes plastic and paper;
fractionating at least a portion of the sized waste streams by density to produce a light fraction and a heavy fraction, the light fraction enriched in the at least two recyclable materials;
sorting the light fraction using one or moresorting apparatuses to produce at least two separate recyclable products selected from the group consisting of a paper product, a plastic product, and a non-ferrous product; and
recovering the at least two recyclable materials as individual recyclable products.
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Abstract
The method and systems efficiently extract recyclable materials from a mixed solid waste stream. The methods and systems use sizing, density and dimensional separation to produce intermediate waste streams that are enriched in particular recyclable materials. The recyclable materials can then be efficiently sorted from the individual intermediate streams using mechanized sorting equipment.
29 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for recovering recyclable materials from mixed solid waste stream, comprising:
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providing a mixed waste stream comprising at least two recyclable materials selected from the group consisting of paper, plastic, and non-ferrous metal, the recyclable materials including 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional materials; shredding the mixed waste stream in a shredder to produce a shredded mixed waste having 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional recyclable materials; fractionating the shredded mixed waste stream by size in a size separator to produce a plurality of sized waste streams, wherein an over sized waste stream includes plastic and paper; fractionating at least a portion of the sized waste streams by density to produce a light fraction and a heavy fraction, the light fraction enriched in the at least two recyclable materials; sorting the light fraction using one or more sorting apparatuses to produce at least two separate recyclable products selected from the group consisting of a paper product, a plastic product, and a non-ferrous product; and recovering the at least two recyclable materials as individual recyclable products. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for recovering recyclable materials from mixed solid waste stream, comprising:
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providing a mixed waste stream comprising a plurality of recyclable materials including paper, plastic, and metal; shredding the mixed waste stream in a shredder to produce a shredded mixed waste having 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional recyclable materials; fractionating the shredded mixed waste stream by size to produce a plurality of sized waste streams wherein an over sized waste stream includes paper and plastic; fractionating at least a portion of the sized waste streams by density to produce a plurality of intermediate waste streams individually enriched in one or more of the recyclable materials; individually sorting the plurality of intermediate waste streams using one or more sorting apparatuses to produce a recyclable paper product, a recyclable plastic product, and a recyclable metal product; recovering the recyclable paper product, the recyclable plastic product, and the recyclable metal product. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for recovering recyclable materials from mixed solid waste stream, comprising:
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providing a mixed waste stream comprising a plurality of recyclable materials including paper, plastic, and metal; shredding the mixed waste stream in a shredder to produce a shredded mixed waste having 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional recyclable materials; fractionating the shredded mixed waste stream by size to produce a plurality of sized waste streams; fractionating at least a portion of the sized waste streams by density to produce a first intermediate waste stream enriched in the recyclable materials including recyclable paper and recyclable plastic; sorting the first intermediate waste streams using an eddy current separator to obtain a recyclable non-ferrous metal product; fractionating the first intermediate stream using a 2D-3D separator to produce a second intermediate stream enriched in 3-dimensional plastic and an third intermediate stream enriched in film plastic and paper; sorting the second intermediate stream to produce a high density polyethylene product and/or a recyclable polyethylene terephthalate product; and sorting the third intermediate stream to produce a paper product.
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Specification