ORGANIC MATTER

Technical Field

The present invention refers to an apparatus for transforming long molecular chain organic matter.

Background Art

As is known, mixtures of organic compounds of low molecular weight constitute the basic components of the fuels used to power vehicles such as aircraft, automobiles and the like.

To make such mixtures, it is necessary, according to a procedure also known as "cracking", to produce the transformation, by breakage, of long molecular chain organic matter. Such long chain organic matter is what constitutes the hydrocarbons typically obtained by distilling crude oil, and is also available in the form of various residues of plastics, rubber materials, vegetable flours and the like.

Thermal scission techniques for implementing such transformation are therefore widespread: these techniques break the carbonaceous bonds using heat, which is applied to the material to be processed both from outside, and by means of combustion of part of the very material to be processed.

However, both such techniques have drawbacks: bringing in heat from outside, in fact, is often obstructed by the deposition of solid products on the exchange surfaces, while the combustion of the material is often not optimal and produces the formation of compounds, the subsequent management of which is complex.

These drawbacks are partly remedied by a further embodiment

(especially for transforming organic residues), which uses transformation plants that include a cylindrical chamber inside which the material is mechanically mixed, shredded, crushed, and ground. This causes the material to assume a viscous consistency and subjects it to forces of friction that are such as to increase its temperature and pressure, so producing the desired breakage of the molecular bonds.

Typically, such a result is obtained by sending the material to a cylindrical chamber inside which a screw rotates coaxially: the rotation of the screw produces the advancement of the material along the spaces delimited by the screw itself and by the cylindrical chamber, and it is inside these spaces, suitably dimensioned, that the material receives the treatment described above, until it undergoes the cracking as intended.

This embodiment is also, however, not without drawbacks.

To generate forces of friction that are such as to obtain sufficient increases in pressure and temperature to induce breakage of the carbonaceous bonds, it is necessary to impose a high speed of rotation on the screw.

This requires a huge consumption of energy and it subjects the organs in play to extreme stresses, which in their turn impose the over-dimensioning of the organs themselves and which more generally require the adoption of various contrivances and infrastructures that complicate the overall structure of the plant.

In addition, it should be noted how in specific sections of the screw and in the conduit travelled by the material, such material has a doughiness that is such as to form a plug that prevents the entry of oxygen from outside; oxygen that could otherwise dangerously combine with the hydrocarbons and organic matter inside and lead to explosions inside the chamber.

In the plant described above, the high speed of the screw, which is necessary as shown in the previous paragraphs, is often such as to obstruct the formation of this plug, with evident negative consequences for the safety of the entire plant and unacceptable dangers of explosions and blowouts inside the chamber.

Disclosure of the Invention

The aim of the present invention is to solve the above mentioned drawbacks, by devising an apparatus that makes it possible to achieve the transformation of long molecular chain organic matter with a solution that is structurally simple.

Within this aim, an object of the invention is to devise an apparatus that can cause the transformation of long molecular chain organic matter without imposing high operating speeds upon the elements involved.

Another object of the invention is to devise an apparatus that can operate in total safety, without risk of blowouts and explosions.

A further object of the invention is to devise an apparatus that ensures a high level of reliability in operation.

A further object of the invention is to devise an apparatus that can be easily made from elements and materials that are readily available on the market.

A further object of the invention is to devise an apparatus that can be made at low cost and applied safely.

This aim and these objects, as well as others which will become better apparent hereinafter, are achieved by an apparatus for transforming long molecular chain organic matter, comprising at least one chamber that has at least one conduit inside it which is interposed between at least one inlet, for the introduction into said conduit of long molecular chain organic matter, and at least one outlet, for the expulsion of short molecular chain organic mixtures, obtained from the transformation of the long chain organic matter, characterised in that at least one active portion of said conduit is delimited by respective surfaces of at least one pair of rotors, arranged at least partly side by side inside said chamber, and, at said active portion, the simultaneous rotation of said rotors subjecting the long molecular chain organic matter to mechanical stresses, with consequent increase, due to friction, of the temperature and internal pressure, for the breakage of the long molecular chains.

Brief description of the drawings

Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become better apparent from the detailed description that follows of a preferred, but not exclusive, embodiment of the apparatus according to the invention, illustrated by way of non-limiting example in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan view of an apparatus according to the invention;

Figure 2 schematically shows the operation and the motion of the rotors, at the active portion of the conduit.

Ways of carrying out the Invention

With reference to the figures, an apparatus according to the invention, generally designated by the reference numeral 1, is adapted to transform long molecular chain organic matter and comprises at least one chamber 2, inside which the transformation takes place.

The chamber 2 has at least one conduit 3 inside it, interposed between at least one inlet 4a, which allows the introduction into the conduit 3 of the long molecular chain organic matter to be transformed, and at least one outlet 4b, which allows the expulsion of the short molecular chain organic mixtures, obtained from the transformation of the long chain organic matter.

The long molecular chain organic matter that can be transformed by means of the apparatus 1 according to the invention can be any: by way of example, it is possible for it to be residues of plastic materials, polymeric materials (vulcanised rubber, thermoplastics etc., such as used tyres), vegetable flours, doughy or semi-liquid products, and so on. The possibility of employing the apparatus 1 according to the invention for the transformation of different types of organic matter is not excluded.

According to the invention, at least one active portion 3a of the conduit 3 is delimited by respective surfaces of at least one pair of rotors 5, arranged at least partly side by side inside the chamber 2.

At the active portion 3 a, the simultaneous rotation of the rotors 5 (and therefore of the respective surfaces which basically delimit the active portion 3a by opposite sides), subjects the long chain organic matter to mechanical stresses, which produce, by friction, a consequent increase in the temperature and internal pressure, capable of causing the breakage of the long molecular chains.

Inside the active portion 3 a, the above mentioned organic matter is subjected to mechanical stresses of various different types, as an effect of the simultaneous rotation of the two rotors 5: the matter, in fact, is stretched, crushed, milled, shredded, ground and so on. The forces of friction, internal and external, generated between the various different layers of the organic matter present thus raise its pressure and the temperature of the matter until it produces the breakage of the long molecular chains, and the desired transformation of the organic matter introduced into the chamber 2 into short molecular chain organic mixtures.

Typically, for such organic mixtures, the transformation achieves the separation of the respective solid, liquid and gaseous phases, which then exit from the outlet 4b.

The presence of two simultaneously rotating rotors 5, and therefore the combination of the two motions inside the active portion 3 a, transmits extreme stresses to the organic matter even by means of slow speed of rotation of each of the two rotors 5, thus basically achieving the intended aim.

Since a high speed of rotation is not required for the rotors 5, in fact, it is possible to devise apparatuses 1 that have high structural simplicity, and consequent reliability, without resorting to infrastructures and over- dimensioning of the organs involved.

According to a preferred embodiment, cited for the purposes of non- limiting illustration of the invention, the rotors 5 are substantially constituted of cylindrical shafts located side by side, which rotate in the same direction (with equal or different angular speeds) about respective axes, which are substantially parallel to the axis of the chamber 2 and inside thereto.

With further reference to the preferred embodiment, the chamber 2 is also preferably cylindrical in shape.

The choice of inducing rotations in the same direction for the two shafts (for example both rotating clockwise, or both anticlockwise) makes it possible to subject the organic matter to the maximum mechanical stresses: from the example in Figure 2, in which it is supposed (purely for the purposes of example) that the two rotors both have an anticlockwise direction of rotation, in fact, it can be seen how, at the active portion 3 a, the relative motions of the opposite-facing surfaces of the rotors 5 are tangentially directed in opposite directions, and this guarantees the transmission of the maximum mechanical stresses to the organic matter that passes through the active portion 3 a.

With further reference to the preferred embodiment, each shaft has at least one first upstream section 5 a and at least one second downstream section 5b: the active portion 3a of the conduit 3 is delimited by the downstream sections 5b of such shafts, which are arranged side by side and are proximate and substantially parallel.

More precisely, the chamber 2 comprises two inlets 4a that feed into respective accommodation seats 6 of corresponding upstream sections 5a of the shafts: the spaces that are thus delimited by each of the upstream sections 5a and by the respective seat 6, constitute respective head branches 3b of the conduit 3 (which is therefore substantially Y-shaped), such branches feeding into the active portion 3 a.

Conveniently, each upstream section 5a of the shafts is substantially constituted by a first screw, the spiral 7 of which, wound around the stem of the shaft, is adapted to drag along the spaces the long molecular chain organic matter to be transformed (introduced into the branches 3 b through the inlets 4a).

The choice of locating the active portion only at the downstream sections 5b, where the shafts conveniently have greater diameter than in the upstream sections 5a, positively makes it possible to subject the long molecular chain organic matter to the maximum mechanical stresses, for the same speed of rotation and without requiring the over-dimensioning of the shafts as a whole.

Indeed, as can be seen from the accompanying figures, the diameter of the downstream sections 5 b is greater than that of the upstream sections 5 a to obtain, precisely at the opposite-facing surfaces of the rotors 5, the maximum tangential speeds (and the maximum stresses), while along the upstream sections (smaller in diameter) the organic matter is simply dragged (and possibly preheated).

According to a first possible embodiment, shown in the accompanying figures for the purposes of example, the lateral surfaces of the downstream sections 5b are substantially flat, and the section of the downstream sections 5b has a greater diameter than that of the upstream sections 5a, in order to obtain, at the active portion 3 a, greater tangential speeds (useful to the transformation of the organic matter).

According to a different embodiment, the downstream sections 5b of the shafts are constituted by second screws (the pitch of which is the same as, or different from, that of the first screws already described), to produce the dragging of the organic matter being transformed along the active portion 3a. Also according to this embodiment, there is the possibility that the downstream sections 5b of the shafts have a greater diameter than that of the upstream sections 5 a, to increase the tangential speed.

The operation of the apparatus according to the invention is as follows.

Through the inlets 4a, it is possible to introduce long molecular chain organic matter of various types and having different forms.

Such organic matter can thus travel along the branches 3 b of the conduit 3, possibly pushed by the first screws which constitute the respective upstream sections 5 a of the rotors 5.

From the branches 3b, the organic matter can thus arrive at the active portion 3 a, in which, as shown previously, it is subjected to mechanical stresses that are such as to induce the breakage of the long molecular chains that compose it, thus obtaining the desired transformation into organic mixtures of various types, with short molecular chain.

The action of the two rotating surfaces makes it possible to maintain a low speed of rotation for the two rotors 5 (and consequently greater structural simplicity of the entire apparatus 1), but at the same time it ensures that stresses and frictions are obtained to an extent that are such as to guarantee the accomplishment of the desired transformation of the organic matter into short chain organic mixtures.

Differently to what happens in known apparatuses, it is not necessary to impose high speeds of rotation on the rotating shafts in order to guarantee that the conditions necessary for the activation of the transformation reaction are reached.

This also makes it possible to ensure the correct formation of the plug of material which, as an effect of the doughiness of the very materials involved, forms at specific sections of the conduit 3 and prevents the dangerous entry into the chamber 2 of oxygen from outside (oxygen that could otherwise cause explosions).

The organic mixtures obtained in the chamber 2 can then exit from the outlet 4b and be collected in suitable containers (and possibly undergo further refining treatments, according to the specific uses to which they are destined).

It is advantageous to specify that it is also possible to devise apparatuses 1 that are provided with three or more rotors 5, arranged for example side by side to define a plurality of active portions 3 a, or even having different shapes, possibly also in such a way that at least three rotors 5 contribute (with respective surface areas) to delimit the same active portion 3 a, should this be considered preferable according to the specific application needs. In practice it has been found that the apparatus according to the invention fully achieves the intended aim, since the transformation of the long chain organic matter occurs in an active portion of a conduit that is delimited by the simultaneously rotating surfaces of at least two rotors, and this subjects the organic matter to mechanical stresses that are such as to induce their transformation into short molecular chain organic mixtures, with a structurally simple solution.

The invention thus conceived is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations, all of which are within the scope of the appended claims; in addition, all the details may be replaced by other technically equivalent elements.

In the embodiments illustrated, individual characteristics shown in relation to specific examples may in reality be interchanged with other, different characteristics, existing in other embodiments.

In addition, it should be noted that anything found to be already known during the patenting process is understood not to be claimed and to be the subject of a disclaimer.

In practice the materials employed, as well as the dimensions, may be any according to requirements and to the state of the art.

Where technical features mentioned in any claim are followed by reference signs, those reference signs have been included for the sole purpose of increasing the intelligibility of the claims and accordingly, such reference signs do not have any limiting effect on the interpretation of each element identified by way of example by such reference signs.