Furnace

DESCRIPTION:

Field of the Invention

The invention relates to furnaces for burning waste, for use especially but not exclusively for waste disposal. The furnaces are particular applicable to incinerator type applications where material with unpredictable burning characteristics have to be pyrolysed and oxidised endothermically or exothermically.

Background of the Invention

Hospital waste disposal is subject to official regulations which prevent waste burial and make disposal by burning compulsory. In other areas, industry etc, it may also be necessary to dispose of waste in an economic manner. In such a disposal by incineration, air pollution regulations have to be met. The waste may arrive for disposal irregularly. Varying amounts of manpower may be necessary to supervise the operation and ensure appropriate maintenance.

The most cost-effective solution thus far is a system using pyrolitic incinerator connected to a waste heat recovery boiler. Such a system can include a horizontal loading system; a horizontal furnace which is loaded from time to time in which a small amount of air effects pyrolitic combustion and incineration; an after burner for ensuring total burn of incinerator exhaust, and a heat exchanger for recovering heat from the afterburner for ensuring total burn of incinerator exhaust; and a heat exchanger for recovering heat from the afterburner exhaust for raising steam. Such systems have three separate main elements, furnace, afterburner, heat exchanger which are costly to install and provide a low efficiency of calorific value recovered from waste for raising steam. Air pollution

requirements can be difficult to satisfy. Automatic de-ashing has been suggested but its implementation may involve considerable interruption and complex arrangements.

Manual de-ashing is a laborious and unpopular job, tending to lead to late or irregular de-ashing which in turn causes ash build-up and lowers incineration efficiency-

It has also been proposed to mix waste and fuel such as coal and feed this mixture to a horizontal burner of the type used conventionally for raising steam. The boiler is simple but incineration cannot be guaranteed and ash removal may be laborious.

Three pass boiler with ^' upright combustion chambers have been used for burning wood waste. Such boilers had inlets for blowing in finely powered wood waste to sustain combustion over a large refractory bottom and has facilities for inserting a fossil fuel burner fox. the event wood waste was not available. These boilers had no incinerating capacity and could not deal with irregular loading or hard-to burn materials- Such boilers were regarded entirely as efficient steam generators and the wood burnt functioned as fuel not as waste which was difficult to dispose of-

Summary of the Invention

The invention employs a furnace in which a number of interrelated aspects have novel features which together lead to a satisfactory form of waste disposal furnace for hospital applications but which may be used independently where appropriate- These aspects relate to the feeding of waste, the manner in which the waste is burnt, and the collection and disposal of ash- Overall it is intended that any controls necessary for feeding, burning and

de-ashing be performed so as to require minimal labour and supervision so that the system as a whole provide efficient waste combustion, at small or no atmospheric pollution without laborious supervision and maintenance. The various aspects will now be explained in general lines:

Waste Feeding

According to this aspect of the invention, there is provided a furnace for burning waste including a hopper for storing material to be incinerated, a conveyor for receiving material from the hopper drivable when required. a chute for conveying material downwards from the end of the conveyor > an upright combustion chamber with an opending at an upper part thereof connected to the chute* a door in the opening lined with refractory and associated means for operating it when required; and means for controlling the conveyor and door operating means in response to the presence of material in the hopper and/or on the conveyor and the furnace condition.

The conveyor may extend horizontally but is preferably an elevator. Using this aspect the elevator and door can be operated, without manual supervision, when material is present ready for incineration in the hopper or on the elevator and when the furnace is in a condition suitable for commencing incineration. The door and chute protect the elevator and any material thereon from the effects of furnace heat, yet ensure that material can pass smoothly into the lower part furnace for incineration. The whole feeding operation is simple and can be readily automated or made suitable for use in automated furnace control. Where

the material is in the form of packages (e.g. bags) the elevator may be driven in reverse to ensure that no package is at the top of the elevator, in a position where in could topple over down the chute, when the door is closed.

Because the furnace has an upright combustion chamber, the area supporting waste material is relatively small permitting material to be supplied at fairly frequent intervals in small packages using a small elevator and chute construction. The presence or passage of material is preferably detected conveniently by an IR (infra-red) sensing arrangement both at the top of the elevator and in the chute to ensure the door is closed only after the material has passed through.

Ash removal

According to this aspect of the invention there is provided a furnace for burning waste having an upright combustion chamber with an opening at an upper part for receiving waste material, a support for waste material at a lower chamber part having associated therewith a door with clearance in the closed condition with associated furnace parts, blowing means for advancing air at least through the clearance into the combustion chamber, means for operating the trap door from the closed condition to an inclined condition for allowing ash to fall from the upper door surface, means for removing ash from below the trap door, and means for controlling the door operating means and, if required, the means for removing ash.

The ash removing means may be a chute but is preferably a conveyor means such as a power operated screw conveyor. The air flow through the clearance helps to ensure that the

door is cooled, material combustion promoted and ensure that the door can be readily operated even after ash has accumulated on it. The door may have additional apertures to aid air movement into the chamber. Preferably the door is associated with the grating, conveniently on one side thereof which may be level and the blowing means are arranged to blow through the grating and assist in maintaining ash fluidity and help ash to accumulate preferentially on top of the trapdoor.

Ash removal cycles may be initiated, governed by the control means when required and without operator intervention. Leightweight, simple doors which are pivoted may be used as the upright chamber provides a small area where ash can collect. particularly if a suitably contructed inclined grating is used. By regular, automatic removal (say every 30 minutes) de-ashing can be effected satisfactorily and automatically- Accumulation of the ash on the trap door can be promoted by blowing air under high pressure from a fan over or through the grating prior to the opening of the trap door. The air may be derived from a compressed air source which may also be used for operating doors etc. of the furnace.

Waste burning

According to this aspect of the invention there is provided a furnace having an upright combustion chamber with an opening at an upper part for receiving waste material and ash removing facility at a lower part, an adjustable burner for supplying fossil fuel at the lower part, means for adjusting the burner. a temperature sensor for the chamber temperature; means for completing combustin in the upper part;

a water cooled jacket surrounding the combustion chamber, and means for controlling the burner and, if required the means for completing combustion in response at least to the temperature sensed so as to allow for the calorific value or requirement of the material to be incinerated, the supply of waste material and the occurrence of ash removal cycles.

Preferably the furnace takes the basic form of a three-pass boiler and the waste material support includes a grating which may be level or inclined and may also be water-cooled. The grating may have inclined water passages to permit flow by gravity without additional -pump provision. The grating may have vertically and horizontally off-set boiler tubes forming an inclined array of steps to facilitate <ash removal- The burner may be aimed so as to achieve decomposition/pyrolysis of material on the support and turbulence. Preferably the burner is aimed to project a flame parallel to the grating to provide intense combustion over any ash removal door. The means for completing combustion is preferably a secondary burner. Air passing through the grating provides intense combustion of waste material lying on it and causes ash to be propelled down the grating to the ash removing facility.

The use of a boiler for incinerating provides longevity and good heat recovery of incinerated material. It has been found that low pollution incineration with good heat recovery can be much more satisfactorily achieved within the framework of a vertical boiler by adapting it for loading waste material and de-ashing at fairly high frequencies rather than within the framework of a conventional incinerator adapted for heat recovery. Whilst the good incineration achieved is attendant upon the

combustion of a fair amount of fossil fuel (the incinerating function may only occupy 25% of the total operating time in some cases) , its calorific value is efficiently recovered and may make other boiler capacity redundant. The use of a vertical chamber furnace in particular helps by providing a compact lay-out of well-cooled refractory material which need not be cooled by air bleeding arrangements and has low soot build up, closely adjacent initial combustion of waste material and oxidation of any volatiles created by initial combustion. A reduced escape velocity of the flue from the chamber and its upright configuration combine to prevent escape of larger grit particles. Cyclone separators can be added to reduce escape of further smaller grit particles.

In addition it can be seen how the feeding of waste material, the burning, and the ash removal are all subject to automated control and can be easiliy synchronised so as to provide interlocking controls in which furnace operation is adjusted dependent on ash removal cycle frequency and the nature of waste material advanced. Furthermore feeding of waste material can be stopped to maintain optimum combustion/incineration conditions and to allow ash removal.

In practice the main manual operations which remain, depending on the material disposed of, include ^' a regular cleaning of the grating through an external door to remove any ash or residue which sticks to the grating and regular maintenance (say once per month) to clean the boiler.

Other features of the invention can be seem from the description by reference to the drawings and the claims.

DRAWINGS:

Figure 1 is a vertical section through a three-pass boiler/incinerator according to the invention, Figure 2 is a vertical section along line 2-2 in Figure l, Figure 3 is a horizontal section along line 3-3 in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a horizontal section along line 4-4 in Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a vertical section of the incinerator of Figure 1 to illustrate the overall configuration;

Figure 6 is a transverse section of Figure 5 showing three-pass boiler tube lay-out;

Figure 7A is an enlarged, part section of a modified lower end of Figure l showing in Figure 7B a yet further enlarged side view of part of the grating in the lower end.

Construction by Reference to Drawings

With reference to the Figures a three-pass boiler or incinerator with,a vertical combustion chamber forming the furnace is generally indicated at 2. The boiler contains a chamber 4 which is lined with refractory 6 and has a water jacket 8 with spaces 10 for boiler tubes 9 (Figures 5 , 6) and for air passages and has reversal chambers 11 to allow air to moved from the chamber 4 down along the outside of the refractory lining past the boiler tubes and hence upwards again in the conventional arrangement of a three-pass boier as shown by arrows A. In Figure 6 a sector marked X provides for a downward flow past the boiler tubes 9 and sector Y for an upward flow leading to an induced draft fan 33 shown in Figure 5. The boiler may be a wet back boiler with a header on top of the chamber for air emerging from sector Y.

At a lower chamber end a grating array 12 is provided which includes a step-wise arrangement of hollow, rectangular section grating tubes 14. The tubes 14 are spaced

vertically and horizontally- Sequentially operable air blast nozzles 16 may be located behind and below (see Figure 7B) so as to leave an air gap to provide the requisite flow- As shown in the Figures the tubes 14 lie parallel to each other but have a longitudinal axis inclined slightly upwards to the horizontal to permit gravity flow- An external access door 62 is provided at the lower end. Where appropriate air may be drawn in through this door or other opening at a similar level for aiding combustion.

A fan 18 blows air underneath the grating as shown by arrow B. The air blown below passes between the tubes 14 into the combustion space generally indicated at 17 and helps to ensure that material to be incinerated is burned on the steps- A valve 22 may also control the overall flow from the fan 18. Alternatively air may be drawn in at this location by the induced draft fan 33 (Figure 5). Adjacent the lower tube 14 of the array 12, there is mounted a substantially semi-circular trap door 24 carrying on its upper face a lining 26 and pivotable bodily through a pivot shaft 28 by means of an actuating lever connected at 30. In larger boilers the trap door may be circular and be pivoted aling a substantially diametrical axis, but may in any event be unbalanced to assist the initial opening movement- The trap door 24 is received with approximately 20 mm clearance all around in the bottom of the chamber 4 in the closed condition shown in solid lines in Figure 1 and air can pass upwards through the gap into the combustion chamber as shown by arrows C. The gap is indicated at 32.

At the top of the chamber 4 there is provided an inlet for waste materials to be incinerated, which inlet includes a chute 40 to the chamber 4. A means for supplying waste

materials to be incinerated is provided by a conveyor 26 which leads from a storage area 37 to an upwardly inclined slope 39 . Three infrared cells 38 are provided and the conveyor 36 can be operated so that one container, such as a bag or box can pass one at a time through the door 42 which is shown in dotted lines in the open condition of Figure 1. The conveyor 36 or elevator may run in reverse a short distance after one container with waste material has been discharged down the chute to avoid any unintentional delivery of the next container-

A burner 44 is mounted extending substantially radially with respect to the chamber 4 but arranged so as to project fuel admixed with air for combustion in a slightly downward direction (see Figure 2) as shown by arrow D. The burner 44; is associated with control means which enables" it to supply varying amounts of fuel or to be switched off in a manner explained later on. The burner 44 is arranged to swirl the flames around and create the most intensive combustion over the trap door 24 to ensure that any waste material on the trap door is properly incinerated.

A thermo-couple is mounted in a tube g to extend- through the refractory lining to monitor - the combustion temperature. A second tube 47 is fitted with a draught controller to maintain a constant negative pressure in the firing chamber created by the main induced draft fan on the outlet side. A further fan for supplying secondary air for completing volatile combustion may be arranged in the upper region of the combustion chamber 4 but preferably a secondary burner 50 is used. Both burner 44 and 50 are of a type in which air is drawn in by the burner for admixture with fuel for combustion.

The induced draft fan 33 sucks into it on the inlet side

- li ¬ the exhaust flue. It blows the mixture to a cyclonic separator 100 (Figure 5) which may have a recirculation passage back to the fan 33. The grit particles separated in the separator 100 may be sucked by a Venturi arangement 102 and passed back into the furnace using high pressure outlet air of the fan 33 passed through duct 104 or may be collected and removed by a rotary valve periodically. Thus the final mixture from the separator contains no grit and can be passed to atmosphere.

Operation

In use of the boiler, a system will control operation of the conveyor 36, the burners 44 and 50, the fan 18 and their associated valves and the screw conveyor 35. During a fuel burning/waste incinerating mode of operation, the conveyor 36 will advance bags of waste material or any suitable material for incineration upwardly on the conveyor to the chute 40. Assuming the burner 44 is operating and assuming no waste material has. as yet. been dropped previously into the chamber 4, a desired conbustion temperature will have been established in the combustion chamber 4 by using the burner 44 and the air admixed thereto in conjunction with the thermo-couple 6. In such a 'gas/oil only' mode the fan 18 and burner 50 are off and valves 22 and 64 are shut. These only open when the boiler has to incinerate waste. As a result of this operation of course heated water will be produced by the boiler as water is heated by the boiler tubes in the mantle 8 surrounding the chamber 4.

Assuming that it is desired to burn waste material, a bag of waste material 60 will be introduced through the chute 40 and door 42. The valves 22 and 64 will open after the

door has closed. The burner 50 will commence operation. This bag will fall on top of the grating array 12 and tumble down into the combustion space 17. Subsequently, at regular intervals controlled by a timer further bags of waste materials will be dropped through the chute along arrows E so that a row of a few bags will form which will work its way gradually down as the waste material at the bottom of the stack is finally and fully combused in teh combustion zone 17. The boiler is now acting in a manner functionally equivalent to an incinerator but the boiler will continue to produce heated water* In the course of this incinerating operation two matters should be noted.

Firstly, the air flow from the fan 18 from below the grating 12 will have a fluidising effect on the ash collecting on the grating tubes 14. Also the collection of ash in the gap between the door 24 and the surrounding chamber wall is prevented by the air flow through the gap 32. Secondly, the thermo-couple continues to monitor the combustion temperature inside the chamber 4. Should the waste material contain material of a high calorific value, the control system will turn the burner 44 down to a low fire condition. If the waste material has a sufficiently high calorific value, the burner 44 can in fact be turned off altogether. Should the waste material be such that a considerable heat input is needed to ensure incineration, the burner 44 can be turned to a full fire condition so as to try and maintain the desired combustion temperature. In addition of the combustion temperature exceeds the desired operating limit the control system can interfere with the conveyor 36 so as to prevent the supply of further waste material until the combustion conditions have normalised. This also prevents overfeeding of waste.

Because of these combustion controls, the air passing

through the combustion chamber 4 is of fairly constant composition, containing relatively little non-combusted material and being of a fairly high temperature. These conditions are maintained, in the manner explained, whatever the variation in the composition of the waste material. Thus the air circulation induced by the fan 33 can be used to prolong combustion with a good excess of oxygen whilst the air gradually travels upwards- The flues emerging from the combustion chamber 4 are substantially free of pollutants. The incineration operation can be continued or the control settings can be changed back to normal boiler operation using the burner 44 only.

It is a special feature of the boiler that ash can be removed at regular frequencies. For this operation the conveyor 36 is switched off to allow all waste materials to be fully .combusted. The burner goes to a high-fire condition for a preset time and the air flow through the grating is stopped by closing the valve 22. This condition causes any metal at the bottom of the chamber to become red-hot and soft for facilitating removal. The burner 50 is switched OFF to avoid pressurising the boiler system, if appropriate. The ash lying on the tubes 14 has been kept fairly loose by the continuous passage of air through the grating 12 during incineration and due to the descent of material to be incinerated. In this way the ash is caused to move down onto the grating tube below so that the bulk of the ash accumulates on top of the refractory lining 26 of the trap door 24. The burner 44 goes to a low-fire condition to avoid projecting the flame to below the level of the closed door. The trap door is pivotted by the actuating lever 30 to the open condition so that the ash drops into the housing 34 for the screw conveyor 34. Next the screw 36 is rotated to remove all the ash and any other

debris for collection. The screw conveyor permits fine ash as well clumps of waster material which will not burn wuch as metal material, to be removed without difficulty. Next the trap door 24 is closed and the boiler can once more resume normal operation. Because ash removal can be performed so simply and reliably, the boiler 2 can be kept free off ash to substantial extent and the flow of air through the grating 12 and the combustion conditions for the fuel supplied by the burner 44 and the waste material passing through the chute 40 can be kept fairly constant-

Figure 7B illustrates how where required de-ashing can be promoted by a timed blast of compressed air released from nozzles 120 under solenoid valve control (not shown) . The different grating levels may be treated in sequence so as to cause the ash to move down step by step.

A detailed sequence of the operation follows:

1) Gas/Oil Only Mode

Gas/oil only supplied through the burner 44 admixed with air. The induced draft fan 33 is ON but fan 18 and burner 50 will be OFF and valves 22, 64 closed.

2) Incineration Mode a) photo-electric cell 38 at lower conveyor end detects material to be incinerated.

b) Valves 22, 64 open to a preset position, burner 50 switches ON-

c) Thermocouple controls burner 44 to ensure correct temperature

d) Chute door 41 opens

e) Conveyor 43 starts

f) Photo-electric cell 38 at chute 40 detects passage of material from conveyor.

g) Conveyor 43 stops (and reverses to prevent toppling over)

h) Door 41 closes

Repeat a to h using timer of control system, unless overridd

If temperature rises:

Burner 44 goes to a low fire condition

If temperature continues to rise:

Burner 44 is switched OFF

Burner fan (not shown) has a control valve for air (not shown) which is left fully open

If temperature continues to rise:

Conveyor 43 stopped, timer is overridden

If temperature drops:

Burner 44 is set to high fire condition

If necessary conveyor 43 is stopped and timer is overridden until correct temperature is reached

When the photo-electric cell 38 at the top of the conveyor 43 sees no waste, then the control system returns automatically normal burning gas/oil only mode, closing valves 22, 64 and switching off fan 18 and burner 50.

From time to time it may be necessary to clear the grating of ash and remove ash deposits from below the grating through suitable access doors by hand, using scraping instruments, but the incidence _^ of this operation can be greatly reduced.

Advantages using the boiler of the invention it is no longer necessary to load incinerators by hand or to remove ash by shutting down the incinerator and removing the ash by manual raking out except occasionally, typically once a day. All the heat generated by the waste material can be effectively utilized and smoke generating conditions can be largely avoided.

The burner may utilize a variety of fuels although. in the embodiment described above the fuel is injected either as gas or as oil. The cooled grating has a long life and facilitates ash removal. The trap door could be slidable as well as pivotable but is preferably as small as possible as is consistent with easy ash removal. The inclined tubes 14 permit the grating 12 to be cooled using the same water circuit as is used in the jacket 8. The large cross-sectional area ensures flow in all circumstances. The conveor 36 may be replaced by a variety of arrangements for supply waste material ^' containers. The waste material could be dropped down by a conveyor from a floor above or in any other convenient manner. The screw conveyor for removing ash could also be replaced by a simple chute or by a pneumatic system for removing ash.

The burner 44 is arranged so that the flame swirls into the

bottom of the combustion space 17 ensuring that combustion is complete at the lowermost part of the combustion space 17.

Using the invention a simple furnace arrangement can be used to serve a variety of user requirements whilst providing for a lowering of the fossil fuel costs. The heat recovered from the waste material in this manner exceeds the heat which could be recovered by extracting heat from the exhaust flues of a conventional incinerator.

Whilst the invention has been described by reference to a furnace which is used for the combined purpose of burning fossil fuel and waste material, the same automatic ash removal system could be used for boilers arranged for burning fossil fuels such as coal or wood or for incinerators burning material with a consistent and sufficient calorific value. The automatic ash removal and the injection or air above and below the grating can be used to provide consistant combustion conditions which may be advantageous in other fields of application.

Figure 6A shows a modified construction for the lower chamber part. A refractory floor is provided which may have apertures to promote ash fluidity or which may be solid. In yet a further modified form the stepped grating may be absent and a grating may be provided level with the door which may or may not be water cooled and/or provided with air apertures for ash fluidity promotion. Such a construction would be more appropriate for larger incinerator capacities and where waste is not in a bag of roughly constant size. Where an air apertured floor is used as a grating, air drawn in from below the floor aids in keep the apertures clear of ash or debris.