VITALIZING GRANULES CONTAINING ASH AND GYPSUM AND A METHOD FOR PRODUCING THE GRANULES

Abstract: The invention concerns a method for producing a granulated vitalising agent from ash from non-fossil or fossil fuel. The ash is mixed with a bonding agent and an aqueous medium is added while stirring the mixture of ash and bonding agent. The resulting paste is formed to granules that may be packed without further drying. The invention further concerns a granulated vitalizing agent, which contains ash from non-fossil or fossil fuel and a bonding agent. The bonding agent is gypsum or cement and the aqueous medium is presswater, or sludge from a waste water clarification plant or a pulpmill, leachate from refuse dumps.

Description: Vitalizing granules containing ash and gypsum and a method for producing the granules. This invention relates to vitalisation granules, as well as a method for the production thereof. To be more specific, this invention concerns vitalisation granules comprising ash of biofuel or fossil fuel and a binder, as well as a method for the production thereof, no separate drying stage being required for the resulting granules. In this context, vitalisation bears upon the recycl¬ ing of nutritive substances and trace elements removed from the ecosystems or lost in some other fashion, such that recycling is called for. By the term "granules" is meant the carrier of these nutritive substances or trace elements. In the industrial part of the world, vast quantities of ash are produced upon the combustion of various sorts of fuel. This ash is often deposited at special waste deposit sites - a procedure involving high costs, envi¬ ronmental problems and a waste of essential minerals and trace elements. The high costs are, inter alia, due to the transport of ash to the waste deposit site, as well as the opera¬ tion thereof. As to the environmental problems, these are, among other things, caused by the accumulation at the waste deposit site of large amounts and high concen¬ trations of the various substances forming part of the ash. Finally, the waste consists in the non-use of the valuable minerals and trace elements found in the depo¬ sited ash and being potentially beneficial to the ground. Examples of trace elements found in the ash are boron, copper, cadmium and zinc. In small amounts, boron, copper and zinc are nutritive substances, whereas cadmium even in small amounts is toxic to ground-living organisms and plants, such that the components of the ash have to be continuously analysed. These trace elements have been absorbed by the plants making up the biofuel and would. if the plants had not been cut down, have benefited the next generation of plants. Unless these elements are recycled, the ground will eventually be impoverished thereof. It would thus be advantageous to have the use of an expedient and cost-effective method of recycling the ash to the ground from which originates the biofuel or to some other ground which little by little is leached of various trace elements and minerals. In addition, the ash has the advantage of counteracting acidification. Dry, loose ash should not be spread directly on the ground, since it may then affect plants and ground-living insects as well as give rise to dusting problems. This problem may, however, be solved by adding water, resulting in the binding of reactive ash, which is thus converted to a less aggressive form. When the reac¬ tive ash is moistened with water, this initiates a curing process that may go on for several months. The ash then undergoes chemical reactions similar to those taking place when concrete is burning. Being thus cured, the ash is in a stabilised state and has a milder effect than loose ash. Certain efforts have been made to develop methods for the production of various ash products. However, the prior-art methods suggested have proved to be too energy- consuming and expensive in relation to the deposition costs. One has, for instance, suggested a method which, among other things, involves the granulation of the ash, a mixture of ash, cement and water being thus granulated, whereupon the resulting granules are cured in a drying plant before being packed. This method of production does, however, require investments in central drying plants and granulation plants to which the ash is trans¬ ported, thus entailing high costs. The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems, enabling the ash to be recovered and convert- ed to granules in a cost-effective and environmentally- acceptable manner. According to the invention, the above problems are thus solved by a method as set forth in appended claim 1 and a vitalisation agent as set forth in append¬ ed claim 8. According to the invention, the costs involved for handling the ash are reduced by the avoidance of deposi¬ tion and of drying in a special drying plant. In a pre- ferred embodiment of the invention, this is achieved by mixing the ash with a binder in the form of finely-divid¬ ed gypsum and/or cement clinker, or some other binder possessing the called-for properties, and moistening the mixture with an aqueous medium. The binders accelerate the curing process of the ash, and the resulting granules formed of the ash and the binder can be packed as such without any intermediate drying operation. The ash utilised in the present invention may origi¬ nate from various sorts of biofuel, such as forest fuel, salix, sallow, straw and other sorts of biofuel of agri¬ cultural origin, but pure forest-fuel ash is actually preferred. Ash originating from energy forests of sallow has a fairly high cadmium content, which has to be taken into consideration when the ash is to be spread, such that the total amount of heavy metals supplied is not too considerable. In order to dilute some kinds of ash having too-high concentrations of certain substances, one may therefore mix ash of different kinds of biofuel. Also ash of fossil fuel may advantageously be granulated in accor- dance with the method described above. According to the present invention, the binder employed may consist of any environmentally-acceptable binder which, by an exothermal chemical reaction with water, results in quick curing. In these contexts, the expression "quick curing" refers to curing within 20 min at the most, preferably 10 min at the most. Preferably, the binder consists of finely-divided gypsum and/or cement clinker. As an instance of gypsum, mention may be made of REA gypsum (gypsum from plants for the desulphu- risation of flue gas), but also other kinds of gypsum may be employed. In the method according to the present invention, the biofuel ash is mixed with a binder, and an aqueous medium is added, resulting in the formation of a coherent mass. This mass is then pressed through an apertured plate, resulting in the formation of strands. These strands then engage a side-feeding means arranged below the apertured plate, such that the strands are removed from the plate and granules form. These granules are then transferred directly to a package without any preceding drying operation. Once the aqueous medium has been added to the mixture of biofuel ash and binder, it takes appro¬ ximately 10 min, preferably 1-5 min, for the mass to cure. It is therefore extremely important that the time elapsing from the addition of the aqueous medium to the pressing of the mass through the apertured plate does not exceed 5 min. Preferably, this time is less than 3 min, and most preferred less than 2 min. The mixing method according to the invention can also be implemented in conventional concrete mixers, in which case the binder and any additives present are first mixed to a homogeneous mass. Then, the mixture is gra¬ dually moistened under agitation in a cylindrical con¬ tainer. The agitation is carried out with the aid of e.g. paddle blades mounted on mixer arms. These mixer arms urge the material out towards the cylinder walls. The mass is moistened until one reaches the moisture quotient at which the material agglomerates in smaller fragments. As a result of the movement of the mass and the friction against the cylinder wall, the agglomerates begin to turn, resulting in a "snowball effect" causing free mate- rial to be bound together until tightly-packed granules have formed. The agglomeration effect is accelerated with time, enabling the process to be interrupted when the material has obtained the aimed-at grain-size distribu¬ tion. The optimal grain-size distribution for this pur¬ pose is in the range of 0.25-15 mm. The amount of aqueous medium added to the mixture of ash and binder constitutes approximately 5-25% by weight. Conveniently, the aqueous medium is added until one has obtained a workable mass for the process. The aqueous medium may consist of water, leachate from waste deposit sites, digested sludge, press water and sludge from public cleansing departments, and/or press water and sludge from paper mills. The method according to the invention is preferably implemented in the temperature range of 5-100 C C, most preferred in the temperature range of 5-25°C. The vitalisation agent according to the invention comprises biofuel ash and a binder in the form of finely- divided gypsum and/or cement clinker, or some other equi¬ valent binder, the binder making up 0.001-35%, preferably 5-20%, of the total weight of the vitalisation agent. The amount of binder added depends on the reactivity of the ash. By the term "reactive" is meant the tendency of the ash to cure. Having a low residual carbon content and being free of residual material, e.g. in the form of sand and lime, dry ash may be highly reactive. Also, the fresher the ash, the more reactive the ash. If use is made of perfectly fresh ash from the cyclone in the plant where the ash has been generated and the ash is still hot, only a small addition of binder is needed to ini¬ tiate the curing process when water is added. Use may then be made of as small amounts of binder as 3-10% by weight. If, on the contrary, use is made of ash that has been stored for some time in an intermediate storage or at a waste deposit site, additions of up to 35% by weight, preferably 20% by weight, are required to enable a curing process. Usually, the addition is in the range of 10-15% by weight. The vitalisation agent may furthermore contain an additive regulating the decomposition time of the gra¬ nules. This additive may, for instance, consist of foam¬ ing agents, cement, clay minerals, wood fibres and/or cellulose fibres. Usually, these additives fall within the range of 1-50%, preferably 30-40%, of the total weight of the vitalisation agent. The vitalisation agent may further include addi¬ tional nutritive substances, optionally in the form of fertilisers or other products containing essential nutri¬ tive substances, such as slag lime, clay minerals, phos¬ phorus and/or residual products rich in potassium. When added to the vitalisation agent, these additional nutri¬ tive substances usually make up approximately 10-50% of the total weight of the vitalisation agent. The invention has the advantage of yielding vitali¬ sation granules of even and high quality at a low cost. With the aid of the method according to the invention, these vitalisation granules may easily be adapted to specific spreading sites and specific spreading equip¬ ment. The invention further has the advantage of enabling the vitalisation granules to be tailored with respect to nutritional content and decomposition time by the addi- tion, in the method of production according to the inven¬ tion, of precisely those trace elements and nutritive substances that are lacking and by the addition of those substances that regulate the decomposition time.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A method for producing a vitalisation agent in the form of granules, wherein ash is mixed with a binder and an aqueous medium, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the binder is a quick-curing environmentally-acceptable binder, the ash consists of ash of biofuel and/or fossil fuel, and the aqueous medium contains at least 60% of water, said method comprising the steps of a) mixing the ash and the binder, and b) adding to the resulting mixture a predetermined amount of the aqueous medium under agitation, thereby to achieve an exothermal chemical reac- tion for producing granules hardened by curing and adapted for subsequent handling, distribution and spreading. 2. A method as set forth in claim 1, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i s e d in that the binder consists of finely- divided gypsum and/or cement clinker. 3. A method as set forth in claim 1 or 2, c h a r ¬ a c t e r i s e d in that the ash consists of reactive ash. 4. A method as set forth in any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the ash and the binder are mixed in a rotary mixer, and that the aqueous medium is then, under continued agitation, added inter¬ mittently or continuously until the aimed-at granular size has been obtained. 5. A method as set forth in any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that an additive for regulating the decomposition of the vitalisation agent is added during mixing of the ash and the binder or during mixing of the ash and the binder in the aqueous medium, said additives consisting of foaming agents, cement, clay minerals, wood fibres and/or cellulose fibres. 6. A method as set forth in any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that supplementary nutritive substances are added, either in solid state when mixing the biofuel ash and the binder or in liquid state to the aqueous medium, said nutritive substances being added in the form of fertilisers or other products containing essential nutritive substances. 7. A method as set forth in any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the aqueous medium consists of water, leachate from waste deposit sites, digested sludge, press water or sludge from public cleansing departments, and/or press water or sludge from pulp mills. 8. A vitalisation agent in the form of granules, which essentially consists of a product obtained upon a chemical reaction between ash of biofuel and/or fossil fuel, a binder preferably consisting of finely-divided gypsum and/or cement clinker, and water in a sufficient amount to produce cured, dry and substantially spherical granules. 9. A vitalisation agent as set forth in claim 8, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that it is available in ready-to-use form and has a diameter of 0.25-15 mm. 10. A vitalisation agent as set forth in claim 8 or 9, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the binder consti¬ tutes 0.001-35%, preferably 5-20%, of the total weight of the vitalisation agent. 11. A vitalisation agent as set forth in claims 8-10, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that it further con- tains an additive regulating the decomposition time of the granules, said additive consisting of foaming agents, cement, clay minerals, wood fibres and/or cellulose fibres. 12. A vitalisation agent as set forth in claim 11, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the additive constitutes 1-50%, preferably 30-40%, of the total weight of the vitalisation agent. 13. A vitalisation agent as set forth in any one of claims 8-12, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that it con¬ tains additional nutritive substances in the form of fer¬ tilisers or other products containing essential nutritive substances. 14. A vitalisation agent as set forth in claim 13, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the additional nutritive substances constitute 10-50% of the total weight of the vitalisation agent. AMENDED CLAIMS [received by the International Bureau on 15 February 1996 (15.02.96); original claims 1 and 4 amended; remaining claims unchanged (3 pages)] 1. A method for producing a vitalisation agent in the form of granules, wherein ash is mixed with a binder and an aqueous medium, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the binder is a quick-curing environmentally-acceptable binder which by an exothermal reaction reacts with water, the ash consists of ash of biofuel and/or fossil fuel, and the aqueous medium contains at least 60% of water, said method comprising the steps of a) mixing the ash and the binder, in a rotary mixer and b) adding to the resulting mixture a predetermined amount of the aqueous medium under agitation un¬ til the aimed-at granular size has been obtained, thereby to achieve the exothermal chemical reac¬ tion for producing dry granules hardened by cur¬ ing and adapted for subsequent handling, distri- bution and spreading without any intermediate drying step. 2. A method as set forth in claim 1, c h a r a c ¬ t e r i s e d in that the binder consists of finely- divided gypsum and/or cement clinker. 3. A method as set forth in claim 1 or 2, c h a r ¬ a c t e r i s e d in that the ash consists of reactive ash. 4. A method as set forth in any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the ash and the binder are mixed in a conventional concrate mixer, and that the aqueous medium is then, under continued agita¬ tion, added intermittently or continuously. 5. A method as set forth in any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that an additive for regulating the decomposition of the vitalisation agent is added during mixing of the ash and the binder or during mixing of the ash and the binder in the aqueous medium, said additives consisting of foaming agents, cement, clay minerals, wood fibres and/or cellulose fibres. 6. A method as set forth in any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that supplementary nutritive substances are added, either in solid state when mixing the biofuel ash and the binder or in liquid state to the aqueous medium, said nutritive substances being added in the form of fertilisers or other products containing essential nutritive substances. 7. A method as set forth in any one of the preceding claims, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the aqueous medium consists of water, leachate from waste deposit sites, digested sludge, press water or sludge from public cleansing departments, and/or press water or sludge from pulp mills. 8. A vitalisation agent in the form of granules, which essentially consists of a product obtained upon a chemical reaction between ash of biofuel and/or fossil fuel, a binder preferably consisting of finely-divided gypsum and/or cement clinker, and water in a sufficient amount to produce cured, dry and substantially spherical granules. 9. A vitalisation agent as set forth in claim 8, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that it is available in ready-to-use form and has a diameter of 0.25-15 mm. 10. A vitalisation agent as set forth in claim 8 or 9, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the binder consti¬ tutes 0.001-35%, preferably 5-20%, of the total weight of the vitalisation agent. 11. A vitalisation agent as set forth in claims 8-10, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that it further con¬ tains an additive regulating the decomposition time of the granules, said additive consisting of foaming agents, cement, clay minerals, wood fibres and/or cellulose fibres. 12. A vitalisation agent as set forth in claim 11, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the additive constitutes 1-50%, preferably 30-40%, of the total weight of the vitalisation agent. 13. A vitalisation agent as set forth in any one of claims 8-12, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that it con- tains additional nutritive substances in the form of fer¬ tilisers or other products containing essential nutritive substances. 14. A vitalisation agent as set forth in claim 13, c h a r a c t e r i s e d in that the additional nutritive substances constitute 10-50% of the total weight of the vitalisation agent.

Inventors: FRANSMAN BO, GOETHE KLAS, FRANSMAN, BO, GOETHE, KLAS
Applicants: FRANSMAN BO, GOETHE KLAS, RESAMCO HB, FRANSMAN, BO, GOETHE, KLAS
Application year: 1995
Main classification: C05D9
IPC codes: C05D3, C05D9