Background Art In accordance with a rapid development of modern society, the amount of waste products, industrial wastes and rubbish is greatly increased, and so it is a verv big problem in most countries to effectively treat such waste products, industrial wastes and rubbish. Particularly, it is necessary to effectively treat some kinds of waste products, industrial wastes and rubbish, which are not recyclable, but cause environmental pollution when they are buried under the ground, through a combustion process.

A variety of incineration plants are installed in selected areas and are used for burning up such waste products, industrial wastes and rubbish, which are not recyclable, but cause environmental pollution in the case of a burying of them under the ground, through a combustion process. However, such conventional incineration plants are large-scaled facilities having very complex construction. and so they force users to pay excessive money for the installation and operation of them. In addition, such conventional incineration plants are regarded as highly objectionable facilities by public, and so an installation of such a plant in a selected area may encounter an opposition from residents surrounding the selected area.

This finally creates a serious social problem. In addition, the conventional

incineration plants create a variety of harmful exhaust gases, such as nitrogen oxides and dioxin, of which the amount exceeds a reference level designated by the environmental standards, during an incineration of such waste products, industrial wastes and rubbish. The conventional incineration plants thus regrettably cause environmental pollution.

On the other hand, the burying of rubbish under the ground causes serious soil pollution and encounters a problem of selection of a rubbish burying area. It is thus necessary to effectively treat the combustible rubbish, waste plastic products, waste rubber products, wet rubbish such as kitchen rubbish, and a variety of industrial wastes such as waste tires, medical wastes, waste oil, and livestock wastes, which are not recyclable, but are combustible, through a combustion process while preferably reducing the amount of harmful exhaust gases and satisfying the environmental standards.

Disclosure of the Invention Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a reformed gas combustion incinerator, which is designed to effectively and almost completely burn up the combustible rubbish, waste plastic products, waste rubber products, wet rubbish, such as kitchen rubbish, and a variety of industrial wastes, such as waste tires, medical wastes, waste oil, and livestock wastes, through a high temperature incineration process with a processing temperature of about 1800°C while being almost free from the generation of smoke or odor and without using fossil fuel other than reformed gas, and which thus remarkably reduces the amount of hazardous gases, such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and smoke, to a level within an allowable range designated by regulation, and causes little environmental pollution.

In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a reformed gas combustion incinerator, comprising: a primary combustion chamber unit consisting of a lower external casing having a cylindrical shape, with two

flanges formed at the lower and upper ends of the casing, the primary combustion chamber unit also consisting of a cylindrical combustion tub installed within the external casing, the combustion tub having a flange at its lower end, with an annular reformed water supply pipe installed at the upper portion of the tub; a secondary combustion chamber unit mounted on the upper end of the primary combustion chamber unit and consisting of an air supply tub, with two flanges formed at the lower and upper ends of the air supply tub and an air inlet hole formed on the sidewall of the tub, and an auxiliary combustion tub installed within the air supply tub; and an upper external casing laid on the secondary combustion chamber unit and having two flanges at the lower and upper ends thereof, the upper external casing having a dust collection tub therein, with both a dust collection means and an exhaust gas guide opening set within the dust collection tub.

In the above incinerator, a blower is connected to the air inlet hole of the secondary chamber unit through an air supply pipe.

Brief Description of the Drawings The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a reformed gas combustion incinerator in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the incinerator according to the present invention; Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the incinerator according to the present invention taken along the line A-A of Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is a sectional view, showing an operation of the incinerator according to the present invention.

*Designation of reference numerals in the drawings*

1: incinerator 2,2', 4,12,12', 22,22', 24'and 42: flanges 3: lower external casing 5: reformed water supply pipe 5a: spray nozzles 6: combustion tub 7: water tray 8: drain tub 9: perforated holes 10: primary combustion chamber unit 13 air inlet hole 14: air supply tub 15: auxiliary combustion tub 16: locking means 17: inside door 18: griddle 19: outside door 20: secondary combustion chamber unit 23: dust collection means 24: dust collection tub 25: exhaust gas guide opening 26: drain port 27: dust collecting water supply pipe 30: upper external casing 32: blower 33: air supply pipe 40: exhaust tub 43: exhaust gas measuring pipe 50: control unit 60: water purification unit Best Mode for Carrving Out the Invention Reference now should be made to the drawings, in which the same reference numerals are used throughout the different drawings to designate the same or similar components.

Figs. 1 to 4 shows a reformed gas combustion incinerator in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the drawings, the reformed gas combustion incinerator 1 comprises a primary combustion chamber unit 10, which consists of a lower external casing 3 having a cylindrical shape, with two flanges 2,2'formed at the lower and upper ends of the casing 3 as best seen in Fig. 1, which is an exploded perspective view of the incinerator 1. The primary combustion chamber unit 10 also consists of a cylindrical combustion tub 6 installed within the external casing 3. This combustion tub 6 has a flange 4 at its lower end, with an annular reformed water supply pipe 5 installed at the upper portion of the tub 6. On the other hand, a

secondary combustion chamber unit 20 is mounted on the upper end of the primary combustion chamber unit 10 and consists of an air supply tub 14, with two flanges 12,12'formed at the lower and upper ends of the air supply tub 14 and an air inlet hole 13 formed on the sidewall of the tub 14. An auxiliary combustion tub 15 is installed within the air supply tub 14. An upper external casing 30 is mounted to the upper end of the secondary combustion chamber unit 20. This casing 30 has two flanges 22,22'at the lower and upper ends thereof, and has a dust collection tub 24 therein, with both a dust collection means 23 and an exhaust gas guide opening 25 set within the dust collection tub 24.

In the reformed gas combustion incinerator 1, a blower 32 is connected to the air inlet hole 13 of the secondary chamber unit 20 through an air supply pipe 33. In addition, a water tray 7 is horizontally installed within the cylindrical combustion tub 6 of the primary combustion chamber unit 10 at a middle portion, with a drain tub 8 externally mounted to the sidewall of the combustion tub 6 at a lower portion. A plurality of perforated holes 9 are regularly formed around the sidewall of the combustion tub 6 at a position corresponding to the lower end portion of the drain tub 8.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the incinerator 1 of this invention. As shown in the drawing, the combustion tub 6 is set within the lower external casing 3 and is fixed to the casing 3 at the flange 4 while forming an air path S. The annular reformed water supply pipe 5 is mounted to a locking hole 3a of the casing 3 at the upper portion of the combustion tub 6. On the other hand, the air supply tub 14 is vertically mounted to the upper end of the lower external casing 3 by locking the flanges 2'and 12 together using a locking means. The auxiliary combustion tub 15 is set within the air supply tub 14. The upper external casing 30 is vertically mounted to the upper end of the air supply tub 14 by locking the flanges 12'and 12 together using a locking means.

In such a case, the auxiliary combustion tub 14, set within the air supply tub 14, is locked to the upper external casing 30 by a locking means 16, with an inside door 17 being hinged to a desired position on the sidewall of the auxiliary combustion tub 14 so as to be openable as desired. In addition, the dust

collection tub 24, having both the dust collection means 23 and the exhaust gas guide opening 25 therein, is set within the upper external casing 30. An exhaust tub 40 is mounted to the upper end of the upper external casing 30 by locking the flanges 22'and 42 together using a locking means.

A drain port 26 is formed at the lower end portion of the exhaust gas guide opening 25 set within the dust collection tub 24.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the incinerator 1 of this invention taken along the line A-A of Fig. 2. As shown in the drawing, a predetermined amount of combustion air is supplied into the air supply tub 14 from the blower 32, and circulates within the tub 14 while swirling along the internal surface of said tub 14.

In addition, both the reformed water supply pipe 5 and a griddle 18 are installed within the upper portion of the combustion tub 6. The above reformed water supply pipe 5 has a plurality of spray nozzles 5a.

Fig. 4 is a sectional view, showing an operation of the incinerator 1 of this invention. As shown in the drawing, inlet air, supplied from the blower 32 into the air supply tub 14, swirls along the internal surface of the tub 14 so as to be partially introduced into the upper external casing 30. The air within the upper external casing 30 flows down while cooling both the dust collection tub 24 and the upper external casing 30. The remaining part of the inlet air within the air supply tub 14 is introduced into the lower external casing 3 so as to swirl down along the internal surface of the casing 3 and to swirl upward along the external surface of the combustion tub 6.

Thereafter, the air swirls down along the internal surface of the combustion chamber 6 while being mixed with reformed water sprayed from the spray nozzles 5a of the reformed water supply pipe 5. In such a case, the reformed water is vaporized to become steam.

Both the supply of air from the blower 32 and the supply of reformed water from the reformed water supply pipe 5 are controlled by a control unit 50, and so the amount of supplied air and supplied reformed gas is appropriately controlled. An exhaust gas measuring pipe 43 extends from the sidewall of the exhaust tub 40 and is used for measuring the exhaust gas from the exhaust tub 40.

In the drawings, the reference numeral 19 denotes an outside door, 24' denotes a flange, 27 denotes a dust collecting water supply pipe, D denotes an ash discharging port, and P denotes an auxiliary fuel supply nozzle.

The operation of the above incinerator 1 will be described herein below.

As shown in Figs. 1 to 4, in order to burn up waste products, industrial wastes and rubbish, which are not recyclable, but combustible, such as combustible rubbish, waste plastic products, waste rubber products, wet rubbish such as kitchen rubbish, and a variety of industrial wastes such as waste tires, medical wastes, waste oil, and livestock wastes, using the incinerator 1 of this invention, both the outside door 19 of the air supply tub 14 and the inside door 17 of the auxiliary combustion tub 15 are primarily opened to receive a predetermined amount of such waste products, industrial wastes and rubbish into the combustion tub 6. The waste products, industrial wastes and/or rubbish within the combustion tub 6 are, thereafter, ignited by a manual or automatic igniter prior to closing the two doors 17 and 19.

Thereafter, the blower 32 is turned on by operating the control unit 50, thus allowing the blower 32 to supply a predetermined amount of air into the air supply tub 14. In addition, a predetermined amount of reformed water is supplied from a reformed water tank (not shown) into the combustion tub 6 through the reformed water supply pipe 5.

In such a case, the inlet air within the air supply tub 14 swirls along the internal surface of the tub 14 in a tangential direction so as to flow partially upward into the upper external casing 30, with the remaining air flowing down from the air supply tub 14 into the lower external casing 3. The inlet air within the lower external casing 3 primarily swirls down along the internal surface of the casing 3 and secondarily swirls upward along the external surface of the combustion tub 6, thus finally being introduced into the combustion tub 6. In such a case, the inlet air within the combustion tub 6 swirls down along the internal surface of the combustion tub 6 while being mixed with reformed water sprayed from the spray nozzles 5a of the reformed water supply pipe 5.

Since air is supplied into the combustion chamber 6 along with reformed

water as described above, the air is mixed with the reformed water and is brought into a chemical reaction with flames from the waste products, industrial wastes and rubbish within the combustion chamber 6, thus accomplishing a complete combustion of the waste products, industrial wastes and rubbish through a high temperature incineration process with a processing temperature of about 1800°C.

In such a case, high temperature combustion heat, generated from such a high temperature incineration process, is preferably and effectively usable as a heat source for desired devices, such as boilers.

During such a high temperature incineration process, it is possible to almost completely prevent an undesired supply of an excessive amount of reformed water from the spray nozzles 5a of the reformed water supply pipe 5 since the water tray 7 is set within the combustion chamber 6. On the other hand, when it is necessary to finally burn up a small amount of incompletely burnt materials laid on the griddle 18 within the combustion tub 6 during an incineration process, reformed water, drained from the water tray 7, flows through the drain tub 8 and is supplied into the combustion tub 6 through the perforated holes 9 of the tub 6 along with a small amount of air. Therefore, the incompletely burnt materials, laid on the griddle 18, are completely burnt up without failure. On the other hand, the supply of dust collecting water into the dust collection tub 24 during the operation of the incinerator 1 is accomplished by the dust collecting water supply pipe 27, installed at a position above the dust collection means 23.

The water laden with dust after a dust collection process within the dust collection tub 24 is drained from the tub 24 through the drain port 26, and is processed by a water purification unit 60, thus being purified prior to being supplied again into the dust collection tub 24 through the dust collecting water supply pipe 27. That is, the dust collecting water is continuously recycled during an operation of the incinerator 1.

During an incineration process of the incinerator 1 of this invention, both a desired dry distillation and desired water vaporization are accomplished due to combustion radiant heat. Such dry distillation and water vaporization in addition to a continued swirling action of air within the incinerator 1 allow the waste

products, industrial wastes and rubbish within the combustion tub 6 to be almost completely burnt up while forming almost colorless exhaust gases having little smoke and little odor.

On the other hand, both a water gas reaction (reformed gas reaction) of C, H + H20-> CO + H2 and a chemical combustion reaction of (CO + H2) + 02- C02 + H20 are performed during an incineration process of the incinerator 1 of this invention, and so the process of this incineration 1 is almost completely free from generating smoke, odor, and harmful exhaust gases, such as CO, NOx, SOx and dioxin.

Exhaust gases, produced from a rubbish incineration process of the incinerator 1 of this invention, were measured, and the results are given in Table 1.

TABLE1 Test results Pollutants Unit Waste Acryl Waste Tire vinyl NH3 ppm - 6.709 - 105.9350210.79COppm HCl ppm-0.545 46.14 H2S ppm-0. 447 S02 ppm 50.9 55.6 52.74 N02 ppm 116.3 163.6 135.50 CS2 ppm Hg mg/sm Dust mg/sm'43.0 44.1 33.10 Smoke 111 Oder -550- C02 % 16. 70 02 % 12.60

Industrial Applicability As described above, the present invention provides a reformed gas combustion incinerator. This incinerator is designed to effectively and almost completely burn up the combustible rubbish, waste plastic products, waste rubber products, wet rubbish, such as kitchen rubbish, and a variety of industrial wastes,

such as waste tires, medical wastes, waste oil, and livestock wastes, while being almost free from generating smoke or odor and without using fossil fuel other than reformed gas. The incinerator of this invention thus remarkably reduces the amount of hazardous gases, such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and smoke, to a level within an allowable range designated by regulation, and causes little environmental pollution, and also accomplishes an effective incineration of rubbish while conserving fossil fuel.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.