Abstract:
Incinerator ashes, which is obtained after treating municipal solid waste, incinerator ashes or its plasma vitrified slag is made into mineral fibers. Cullet is added during manufacturing the mineral fibers for conditioning. The mineral fibers thus obtained have a good strength and could raise value of recycled product. In addition, it could reduce impact of the incinerator ashes to the environment and environmental protection is achieved.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to treating incinerator ashes and, more particularly, relates to manufacturing mineral fibers from incinerator ashes or plasma-vitrified slag by adding glass to reduce a CaO/SiO2 basicity. 
     DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ARTS 
     Incinerator ashes contain hazardous heavy metals, dioxins, etc., which are harmful to human beings and the environment. A plasma melting technology is used to melt the incinerator ashes and the lava formed flows into a water-quenching tank for obtaining a water-quenched slag. The water-quenched slag is made into mineral fibers in the following ways to reduce impact of the incinerator ashes to the environment and also so that the mineral fibers formed can be utilized as a recycled product. 
     In the early days, the water-quenched slag was made into long fibers or short fibers. The fibers are coated with an organic coating to protect the fibers from abrasion and to avoid the fibers linking with each other. In general, an organic adhesive is coated on a cylindrical mineral fiber screen. A part of the organic adhesive is evaporated before contacting with the mineral fiber screen. The evaporated organic adhesive becomes a contaminant in an air flow obtained on manufacturing the fibers and so it must be gotten rid of to avoid contamination. In addition, the organic adhesive remaining on the mineral fibers may become sticky. 
     On the other hand, a prior art of a high pressure blowing method is used to manufacture mineral fibers. However, it is of high danger and the fibers contain a lot of shots. The mineral fibers from above manufacturing process are low density and do not have enough strength or stretch. Hence, the prior arts cannot fulfill all users&#39; requests on actual use. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The main purpose of the present invention is to manufacture mineral fibers from incinerator ashes or plasma vitrified slag by adding glass to reduce CaO/SiO2 basicity. 
     Another purpose of the present invention is to manufacture mineral fibers which can be utilized as a recycled product. At the same time, the problems of disposing of incinerator ashes and recycle the waste into a valuable recycled product can be solved. 
     To achieve the above purposes, the present invention is a device for manufacturing mineral fibers from incinerator ashes or plasma vitrified slag, comprising an automatic feeding unit, a heating unit, a mineral fiber blowing unit, a mineral fiber collection unit, a waste gas and escaped mineral fiber treatment unit, a data recording and acquisition unit and a power supply, where incinerator ashes, plasma vitrified slag and cullet are added together in a ratio or individually to obtain high quality mineral fibers and, by doing so, the problems of disposing incinerator ashes and recycle the waste into a valuable recycling product are solved. Accordingly, a novel device of manufacturing mineral fibers from incinerator ashes or plasma-vitrified slag is obtained. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The present invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of figures, in which 
         FIG. 1  is the structural view showing the preferred embodiment according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is the structural view showing the automatic feeding unit and the heating unit; 
         FIG. 3  is the detailed view showing the heating unit; 
         FIG. 4  is the structural view showing the mineral fiber blowing unit; 
         FIG. 5  is the structural view showing the mineral fiber collection unit; 
         FIG. 6  is the structural view showing the waste gas and escaped mineral fiber treatment unit; 
         FIG. 7  is the flow chart showing the manufacture of mineral fibers. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     The following description of the preferred embodiment is provided to understand the features and the structures of the present invention. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 1  to  FIG. 6 , which are a structural view showing a preferred embodiment according to the present invention; a structural view showing an automatic feeding unit and a heating unit; a detailed view showing the heating unit; and structural views showing a mineral fiber blowing unit, a mineral fiber collection unit and a waste gas and escaped mineral fiber treatment unit. As shown in the figures, the present invention is a device for manufacturing mineral fibers from incinerator ashes or plasma vitrified slag, comprising an automatic feeding unit  1 , a heating unit  2 , a mineral fiber blowing unit  3 , a mineral fiber collection unit  4 , a waste gas and escaped mineral fiber treatment unit  5 , a data recording and acquisition unit  6  and a power supply  7 , where incinerator ashes containing bottom ash or fly ash as main components, which more particularly is plasma vitrified slag including air-cooled slag and a water-quenched slag obtained from a plasma melting of the bottom ash or the fly ash, is used as a material for manufacturing mineral fibers which have a high financial value. By using the present invention, related environmental issues from incinerator ashes are avoided and the mineral fibers obtained can be further used as high value recycled products, like sound-absorbing board, additives of construction fill materials, additives of construction spray materials, etc. 
     On using the present invention, incinerator ashes, plasma vitrified slag and cullet are added together in a ratio or individually and put in feeding hoppers  11  to be fed into the heating unit  2  by two automatic vibration machines  12  in sequence connected in the automatic feeding unit  1 . The materials are mixed and melted in a melting furnace  25  of the heating unit  2  to obtain lava. Then a temperature of the lava is adjusted and fixed at a required value through a constant temperature furnace  26 . A flow rate of the lava is fixed by using a drive tube and a lava exit as well as an overflow recycling unit  28  at an indirect heating device  27  of the heating unit  2 . 
     The lava flows to the mineral fiber blowing unit  3  after flowing through the indirect heating device  27 . A high-pressure air is supplied by an air supplier  31  of the mineral fiber blowing unit  3 , like an air compressor, and the high-pressure air is stored in an air-storage tank  32 . The high-pressure air in the air-storage tank  32  blows the lava obtained from the constant temperature furnace  26  into mineral fibers to enter the mineral fiber collection unit  4 . 
     The mineral fiber collection unit  4  uses an interception conveyer  422  to collect the mineral fibers and then cools them down for finishing the manufacture of the mineral fibers. The mineral fibers obtained are heat-resistant, fire-proof, etc. and thus can be further made into a heat-resistant and fire-proof product, a sound-absorbing board, additives of aggregate, additives of construction fill materials, additives of construction spray materials, etc. The waste gas and escaped mineral fibers produced in the above process enter the waste gas and escaped mineral fiber treatment unit  5  through an exhaust duct  44 . The waste gas and escaped mineral fiber treatment unit  5  uses a wet scrubber  52  and a liquid gauge  521 , to remove the waste gas and the escaped mineral fibers from the exhaust duct  44  and then is exhausted from another exhaust duct  53 . Therein, the above process of inputting the materials; heating and melting the materials into the lava; blowing the lava into the mineral fibers; collecting and cooling down the mineral fibers; and removing the waste gas and the escaped mineral fibers are monitored and controlled by the data recording and acquisition unit  6  and are supplied with power by the power supply  7 . 
     Please further refer to  FIG. 7 , which is a flow chart showing manufacture of mineral fibers. As shown in the figure, for conditioning the lava, the automatic feeding unit  1  comprises two automatic vibration machines  12 . The automatic feeding unit  1  receives programmatic controls through an input flow controller from a programmable logic controller (PLC) (not shown in the figure) for controlling an inflow to the heating unit  2 , while granular sizes of the waste  61  and the cullet  62  are controlled by a filter (not shown in the figure). Thus, the waste  61  and the cullet  62  enter the heating unit  2  in a certain rate with a certain amount. The whole process is controlled by the PLC for achieving certain percents  63  of the waste  61  and cullet  62 . 
     For achieving requirements of heating and controlling the lava in the heating unit  2 , the heating unit  2  comprises an outer shell  21  of a thickness more than 2.5 millimeters (mm); an air-cooling jacket  22  with a stainless steel on the outer shell  21 ; a melting furnace  25 ; and a constant temperature furnace  26 . And the heating unit  2  has four fixed feet  29  and four movable wheels  291 , where the heating unit  2  is operated at a temperature between 900 and 1600 Celsius degrees (° C.) and has a surface temperature below 65° C. 
     Each of the melting furnace  25  and the constant temperature furnace  26  has an inner wall of a fireproof ceramic fiber plate  23  of aluminum oxide (Al2O3) and an outer wall of insulation ceramic fiber plate  24  of Al2O3. Therein, the fireproof ceramic fiber plate  23  resists a temperature more than 1800° C. and the insulation ceramic fiber plate  24  resists a temperature more than 1500° C. Both of the melting furnace  25  and the constant temperature furnace  26  has a plasma torch heater (not shown in the figure) and two R-type thermocouples (not shown in the figure), which has a temperature measuring range between 900 and 1600° C. 
     The melting furnace  25  and the constant temperature furnace  26  comprise a melting furnace crucible  251  and an acceptor crucible  261  respectively, where the melting furnace crucible  251  is made of 98% of aluminum oxide and the acceptor crucible  261  is made of a molten-cast refractory. The overflow recycling unit  28 , as an output of the constant temperature furnace  26 , is set at the indirect heating device  27  under the acceptor crucible  261  and has a working temperature between 900 and 1600° C. With the above structure, a temperature is controlled to melt the mixed materials through the melting furnace crucible  251  in the melting furnace  25 . A temperature of the lava  64  in the acceptor crucible  261  is adjusted in the constant temperature furnace  26  to reach a required value. Then the lava  64  flows through the drive tube, the lava exit and the indirect heating device  27  and, then, output of the lava  64  flow is set to a fixed amount coordinated with the overflow recycling unit  28 . 
     The nozzle  33  of the mineral fiber blowing unit  3  has an outer diameter of 1 inch, made of stainless steel and is movable leftward, rightward, upward, downward, forward and backward in three dimensional movement. The air supplier  31  of the mineral fiber blowing unit  3 , like an air compressor, supplies a high-pressure air  66  to be stored in the air-storage tank  32 . Then the high-pressure air  66  in the air-storage tank  32  is blown from the nozzle  33 . The mineral fiber blowing unit  3  has an emulsifier feeding device (not shown in the figure) for supplying an emulsifier at a rate of 0 to 1,000 milliliter (ml) per minutes, while the nozzle  33  supplies the high-pressure air  66  required for blowing the lava from the lava exit. Thus, the mineral fibers  67  are prevented from getting together. Therein, if the desired temperature and viscosity are not achieved  65 , adjustment and remelt by the heating unit  2  can occur again. 
     The collection duct  41  of the mineral fiber collection unit  4  has a collection funnel  411  to make the mineral fibers  67  enter a collection box  42 , where the collection box  42  comprises an exhaust interior box  421  and the interception conveyer  422 . The mineral fibers are collected  68  and cooled down in the exhaust interior box  421  through the interception conveyer  422 . At the same time, the waste gas and the escaped mineral fibers are transported to the waste gas and escaped mineral fiber treatment unit  5  by an exhaust fan motor  43  and the exhaust duct  44 , where a collecting efficiency of the interception conveyer  422  is more than 99.9% and a rotating speed of the interception conveyer  422  is 2 to 500 cycles per minute which controlled by a frequency converter. 
     The waste gas and escaped mineral fiber treatment unit  5  comprises the exhaust machine  51  and the wet scrubber  52  connected with an end of the exhaust duct  44 . The wet scrubber  52  comprises the liquid gauge  521 . The exhaust machine  51  makes the waste gas and the escaped mineral fibers in the exhaust duct  44  enter the wet scrubber  52 . The liquid gauge  521  controls a liquid level of the wet scrubber  52 . The treated waste gases are exhausted  70  from the exhaust duct  53 . 
     We summarize that the present invention is a device for manufacturing high-quality and high-value mineral fibers from incinerator ashes or plasma vitrified slag. The mineral fibers can be made into a sound-absorbing board, additives of aggregate, additives of construction fill materials, additives of construction spray materials, etc. and, thus, high-quality and high-value recycled product is obtained and an environmental protection issue of incinerator ashes is prevented. 
     The preferred embodiment herein disclosed is not intended to unnecessarily limit the scope of the invention. Therefore, simple modifications or variations belonging to the equivalent of the scope of the claims and the instructions disclosed herein for a patent are all within the scope of the present invention.