Abstract:
Waste management has been primarily based on collection of waste and placing most of it in a landfill or in an incinerator. Waste to resource eliminates a need for large landfills or incinerators by integrating collection of waste with separation and reuse of waste. Present invention eliminates a need for disposing readily usable materials into landfills or incinerators by separating and preparing as needed the usable materials for direct reuse such as environmental enhancements in coastal zone including active and passive coastal barrier systems such as artificial reefs. The coastal barriers systems are constructed along a selected depth that will enhance the hydrodynamics for more desirable self-maintained coastal biological and physical process. A portion of waste is processed and utilized together with other resource waste.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    The present invention lies in the field of civil engineering and more particularly in waste and resource management.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0002]    Waste to resource eliminates a need for disposing usable materials into large landfills or in an incinerator. Using waste to resource method, most of the waste stream is utilized as a resource such as environmental enhancements in coastal zone including active and passive coastal barrier systems, sub-merged artificial reefs, construction materials, wood and compost products, and resource for clean energy. Current and future landfill sites can also be used for treatment and processing resulting in a number of environmental benefits. The benefits include but not limited to  
           [0003]    construction of active or passive coastal barrier systems using a portion of construction and demolition waste stream (C&amp;D) through a decontamination and certification process,  
           [0004]    integration of fluid dynamics characteristics associated with passive and active coastal barriers to optimize environmental benefits in a coastal zone system,  
           [0005]    enhancement of coastal zone diversity, fisheries, diving related activities and related tourism,  
           [0006]    protection of costly beach renourishment project investments through managing sediment transport through fluid dynamics and modeling and by achieving self maintained wave and coastal system energy spectrum.  
           [0007]    Voluminous prior art reviewed showed improving large landfills and waste management by means of landfill reclamation, landfill mining, landfill bioreactors and recovery. However, prior art reviewed did not demonstrate a novel approach of Waste-to-Resource method. Some examples of voluminous prior art on processing and disposal of waste management are summarized below.  
           [0008]    U.S. Pat. No. 1,329,105 discloses an apparatus for solid waste disposal and treatment in tower like structures having a number of chambers which air conduits extent vertically through said chambers.  
           [0009]    U.S. Pat. No. 1,832,179 discloses treatment of organic refuse into useful substances by injecting air into moistened refuse.  
           [0010]    U.S. Pat. No. 2,798,800 discloses a process which includes windrow referred as pile of unsegregated municipal refuse. The windrow is tumbled to provide necessary oxygen within said windrow to support aerobic process as needed.  
           [0011]    U.S. Pat. No. 3,298,821 discloses a method and apparatus for decomposing waste material by aerobic process which is promoted and optimized by conditions designed for aerobic bacterial activity.  
           [0012]    U.S. Pat. No. 3,419,377 discloses a method for treating organic and inorganic waste material. Said material is pulverized, mixed, and moistened to start fermentation prior to a digestor chamber.  
           [0013]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,813 discloses a system and process for treatment of biodegradable waste which includes a land treatment area underlain by an impermeable layer and surrounded by dikes. A leachate collection system permits effluent collection and routes said effluent to a wastewater treatment system.  
           [0014]    U.S. Pat. No. 4,543,016 discloses underground leachate barrier and method which includes digging a trench adjacent a contaminated area, placing a liquid impervious membrane on one side of said trench, and positioning drain pipe and risers surrounded by filter gravel within said trench.  
           [0015]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,078,882 discloses bioconversion reactor and system which is claimed to be useful for the biological transformation of waste material into ecologically desirable materials. Said system is referred and defined as a group of zones including bioreactor zone, solids ecoreactor zone, georeactor zone, all of which said zones are interconnected. Said system includes wetlands, marshes, wastes land filled under soil like material with marsh plants.  
           [0016]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,609 discloses cellular landfill process and apparatus wherein solid waste are disposed of in a landfill repository that maintains them in a state indefinitely using water and gas tight cells.  
           [0017]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,979 discloses a high efficiency waste placement system for municipal landfills which includes shredding the solid waste, adjusting the moisture of the waste, installing an aeration system in a configured pile of said solid waste, covering the pile for aerobic decomposition, compacting the waste pile to be covered with a synthetic cover.  
           [0018]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,422 discloses method for the formation and operation of in situ process reactor using a mobile trenching machine which converts a contaminated site to a reactor by simultaneously placing contaminant impermeable walls while processing excavated materials such as adding reactor reagents.  
           [0019]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,452 discloses a method and apparatus for reclaiming waste materials. Waste materials are placed over impermeable liner in a domed structure. The decomposition of the waste material is controlled and monitored and after a period of time, the material within one or more cells is recovered and recycled.  
           [0020]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,454 discloses a method for landfill reclamation which primarily includes excavation of waste materials from a landfill, separation of excavated waste materials, recovery of recyclable from excavated waste materials, and placing unrecoverable excavated waste materials back into the landfill.  
           [0021]    U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,862 discloses a method of improved landfill mining which comprises converting the landfill to aerobic production by injection of air, moisture, and sludge for increased rate of decomposition, and excavating the landfill to remove waste materials, separating the removed waste material, and returning the residual to the landfill.  
           [0022]    U.S. Pat. No. 6,117,671 discloses an integrated solid waste management method including collection of waste and processing it under wet and waste categories.  
           [0023]    Prior art reviewed as summarized above do not demonstrate a new novel method of Waste-to-Resource through which Resource Waste and Waste for reuse are created.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0024]    Waste management has been primarily based on collection of waste and placing a significant portion of it in a landfill or a bioreactor or an incinerator. Present invention eliminates a need for disposing readily usable materials by separating and preparing the usable materials portion of the waste stream for direct reuse such as environmental enhancements in coastal zone including active and passive coastal barrier systems, and sub-merged artificial reefs. The coastal barrier systems are constructed along a selected depth that will enhance the hydrodynamics for more desirable self-maintained coastal biological and physical process. Mostly construction and demolition (C&amp;D) portion of waste stream is utilized for construction of active and passive coastal barrier systems as sub-merged artificial reefs and coastal barrier systems along a selected configuration that will enhance the hydrodynamics of a coastal zone for protection of beaches against erosion, and to establish more desirable self maintained coastal process. Current and future landfill sites can also be used for processing C&amp;D and bio-mass portions of the waste stream resulting in a number of environmental benefits.  
           [0025]    Prior art reviewed demonstrated that a number of methods and apparatus which improved a concept of incinerators and large landfills which consist of burying waste under controlled environmental conditions and long term monitoring of said conditions. However, prior art reviewed does not demonstrate a new comprehensive novel method and apparatus that will significantly reduce the waste stream including C&amp;D and bio-mass. Present invention makes collection and transportation of readily reusable, mostly C&amp;D and Bio-mass portion of waste, a significant part of recovery, and reuse. Remaining portion of the waste is processed for reuse, and remaining unusable inert is stored for further processing.  
           [0026]    Waste stream is collected and transported as resource waste and waste most of which are separated and prepared for reuse. Said resource waste and waste are accepted by resource waste delivery system and waste delivery system respectively. Waste processing system includes recovery and reuse of recyclables. Resource Waste includes portions of construction demolition materials such as concrete and iron bars and masonry and dry wood. Although it is preferred to eliminate large landfill sites, present invention may be used in association with or as a part of a landfill site depending on the waste stream and market conditions. One of the benefits of using the present invention is elimination of multiple handling and processing of resource waste portion of waste. The following is a partial list of benefits of the present invention:  
           [0027]    1. Usable C&amp;D portion of the resource waste is directly re-used or recycled including establishing active and passive coastal barriers and artificial reefs for environmental resource enhancements and coastal zone management and protection;  
           [0028]    2. Usable botanical and cellulose portion of the resource waste is directly re-used or recycled or converted into clean energy fueled by botanical and cellulose waste separated and decontaminated such as trees and paper and cardboard products, therefor eliminating unwanted pollutant discharges associated with burning plastics, rubber, and metals;  
           [0029]    3. Local political considerations and challenges such as relocation of existing landfills due to odor problems and incinerators due to pollutant discharges are more easily met or overcome using waste to resource. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0030]    [0030]FIG. 1 shows a process chart of the present invention including a waste generator, resource waste and waste, a transportation system, and re-use.  
         [0031]    [0031]FIG. 2 shows a process chart of the resource waste, direct reuse, and associated use such as resources.  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 3 shows a process chart of the waste, waste processing, and associated resources.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 4 shows processing of construction and demolition (C&amp;D) waste portion of waste stream for reuse including associated resource and uses.  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 5 shows processing of organic and botanical waste portion of waste stream for reuse including associated resources.  
         [0035]    [0035]FIG. 6 shows waste stream separation and processing and associated re-use.  
         [0036]    [0036]FIG. 7 shows processing C&amp;D portion of waste stream for reuse.  
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 8 shows processing composite portion of waste stream for reuse.  
         [0038]    [0038]FIG. 9 shows processing organics and botanical and portion of waste stream for reuse.  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 10 shows direct reuse and transportation system for coastal resource waste.  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 10. 1  shows a sea based transportation and discharge system for coastal resource waste.  
         [0041]    [0041]FIG. 10. 2  shows a sea-based transportation and discharge system for coastal resource waste.  
         [0042]    [0042]FIG. 11 shows a sea-based transportation and discharge system for coastal resource waste.  
         [0043]    [0043]FIG. 12 shows a method of operating a waste to resource system to produce energy resources. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
       [0044]    [0044]FIG. 1 shows process chart  10  including summary of the present invention showing a waste generator  11 , preferred separation of waste into groups of at least resource waste  18  and waste  19  as initially contained in resource waste generator container  12  and a waste generator container  13  respectively, a transportation system  16 , waste processing  40 , and direct re-use and recycling  20 . Said transportation system  16  is preferred to have two transportation containers  14  and  15  for waste  19  and resource waste  18  respectively. Waste  19  is prepared through processing  40  for storage  80  and reuse  81  or further processing  82 . Resource waste  18  is directly re-used. Any waste which can not be cost effectively processed or reused is stored or further processed using one or a combinations of a methods of  82 .  
         [0045]    [0045]FIG. 2 shows resource waste being transported through a resource waste transportation system  21  and preparation  22 . Resource waste is prepared or transported directly for Coastal Resource Re-use  23 , Inland resource re-use  24 , Construction Resource Reuse  25  such as aggregate materials, Energy resource Reuse  26  such as gassifiers and clean burners. Yard waste, bio-mass and other BTU valued waste that are not contributing to dioxin and other contaminant air emissions that contains chlorinated hydrocarbons are the primary source of energy fuel. Coastal Resource Reuse  23  such as artificial reefs, coastal active and passive barriers are designed to enhance the coastal environmental resources as well as to protect coastal zone including natural and renourished beaches, and environmental resources.  
         [0046]    [0046]FIG. 3 shows waste generator  11  and waste container  13  and a waste transportation system  41  along with preparation  42  leading to processing  40  for producing materials for Coastal Resource Re-use  23 , Inland resource re-use  24 , Engineering Resource Reuse  25  such as aggregate materials, Energy resource Reuse  26  such as clean burners utilizing bio mass and other BTU valued waste which do not include any waste that contributes to dioxin and other contaminants in air emissions such as chlorinated hydrocarbons. Remaining portion of the waste  13  is stored or further processed using one or a combination of the methods  82  as shown in FIG. 3.  
         [0047]    [0047]FIG. 4 shows a Construction &amp; Demolishing (C&amp;D) waste generator and a resource waste container  12  and C&amp;D Resource Waste Separation  42 . C&amp;D Transportation System  41  receives waste from resource waste container  12  or from C&amp;D waste separation. C&amp;D waste processing  40 . 1  and  40 . 2  receives waste from C&amp;D waste transportation system  41  and process the waste for use as resource for inland structures  24 . 1  and construction materials  25 . 1  and engineering and construction material  25 . 2  and fuel source and energy plants  26 . 1  such as clean burners and gassifiers. A portion of the C&amp;D is separated using  42  and directly used for artificial reefs  23 . 1  and passive barriers  23 . 2  and active barriers  23 . 3  and coastal structures  23 . 4 .  
         [0048]    [0048]FIG. 5 shows a botanical waste generator and generator container  12  which temporarily stores as needed the said waste for botanical waste transportation  41  and the botanical waste is transported for one or a combination of mulching  24 . 2  and composting  24 . 3  and wood and composite products  24 . 4  and fuel source and energy plants  26 . 1 . Processing  40 . 4  includes chipping yard waste to be mixed with bio-solids (sludge) for composting.  
         [0049]    [0049]FIG. 6 shows an integrated waste processing  40  including waste group  18  which is preferred to be separated into five primary groups of  18 . 1 ,  18 . 2 ,  18 . 3 , and  18 . 4  for processing and reuse. Waste  18  includes C&amp;D and is defined by at least four primary groups of waste which are construction waste group  18 . 1 , combined waste group  18 . 2 , composite waste group  18 . 3  and botanical waste group  18 . 4 . Waste groups  18 . 2  and  18 . 4  can be simultaneously collected and directly re-used or processed for use such as small and large concrete aggregate bonded together to build artificial reefs. Iron bars could also be added to the mix.  
         [0050]    A construction waste separation and processing unit  40 . 1  receives construction waste group  18 . 1 . Integrated processing platform  40  separates said waste group  18 . 1  into  18 . 2 . 1 ,  18 . 2 . 2 ,  18 . 2 . 3 ,  18 . 2 . 4 , and  18 . 2 . 5  all of which are send to processing  40 . 2 . FIG. 7 shows a high throughput capacity multi dimensional and multi-radius circular gear separator unit  40 . 1 . 1 . Said unit  40 . 1 . 1  separates  18 . 1 . Remaining large pieces of waste  18 . 1  into smaller which then goes to construction waste post segregation unit  40 . 1  where metals and plastics and wood are separated in mobile container  40 . 1 . 3  for further processing using processing  40 . 2 . Remaining portion of said waste  18 . 1  is crushed using multi layer crushing unit  40 . 1 . 4  for size reductions as desired and send to hammermill unit  40 . 1 . 5 . Aggregate chips from said hammermill unit  40 . 1 . 5  is decontaminated using construction waste decontamination unit  440 . 1 . 6  and separated into different size products using multi screen  40 . 1 . 7  including rotational gear screens and send to mobile container  40 . 1 . 8  for further processing using processing  40 . 2 .  
         [0051]    [0051]FIG. 7 show combined waste group  18 . 2  which consist of at least one or more of aggregate waste  18 . 2 . 1  and plastic waste  18 . 2 . 2  and metal waste  18 . 2 . 3  such as ferrous and aluminum waste and glass waste  18 . 2 . 4  and white goods  18 . 2 . 5 . Said combined waste group  18 . 2  is separated and processed using combined waste processing unit  40 . 2 . White goods  18 . 2 . 5  are separated as much as possible using separator platform  48 B and accepted by mobile container  48 C. Using separator platform  48 A, ready portion of waste  18 . 2  is segregated as much as possible and send directly to primary decontamination unit  51  to be accepted by mobile container  48 D. Remaining of said combined waste  18 . 2  is accepted by primary dynamic screen  49  and secondary dynamic screen  50 . Most of the loose aggregate portion of said combined waste is captured and separated by said primary and secondary dynamic screen  49  and  50  respectively and send to primary decontamination unit  51  which is connected to secondary soil decontamination unit  53 . Said units  51  and  53  are to eliminate potential contaminants such as hydrocarbons and heavy metals. Remaining portion of said combined waste is accepted by multi screen trommel  52  through which all remaining aggregate waste is separated and send to secondary soil decontamination unit  53  and accepted by mobile storage unit  54  for reuse. All remaining portion of said combined waste passes through said trommel  52  and accepted by magnetic separator  55  which collects ferrous portion of metal waste  18 . 2 . 3  which is accepted in mobile storage  56  for reuse. Using said separator  55 , glass waste  18 . 2 . 5  is also collected by mobile container  55 A. An air separator  57  separates plastic waste  18 . 2 . 2  and remaining non ferrous portion of metal waste  18 . 2 . 3  and remaining glass waste  18 . 2 . 5  which are collected in mobile storage  60 ,  59  and  55 A respectively for reuse. All waste  18 . 1  and  18 . 2  directly recovered and is utilized as resource. FIG. 4 shows also more specific uses of the resource waste for artificial reefs  23 . 1  and passive barriers  23 . 2  and active barriers  23 . 3  and coastal structures  23 . 4 . Processed C&amp;D waste also can be used as a resource for coastal zone by creating a mixture with binding material such as concrete and the selected products from processing  40 .  
         [0052]    [0052]FIG. 8 shows a composite waste separation and processing unit  40 . 3  accepts composite waste group such as plywood and other composites waste  18 . 3 . A portion of said waste is selected using pre-selection and post selection units  61  and  63  respectively and contained in  64  for reuse. Processing unit  62  consist of pre-wash unit  62 . 1  and decontamination unit  62 . 2 . Remaining portion of said waste is accepted by cross chipper  65  for processing and reduced to desired different sizes and collected in a mobile storage  67  for reuse. A composite production resource facility can also take products from processing  40 . 3  and  40 . 4  to manufacture composites products.  
         [0053]    [0053]FIG. 9 shows a botanical waste separation and processing unit  40 . 4  receives botanical waste group  18 . 4  consisting of at least yard waste  18 . 4 . 1  such as grass clippings, tree trims, and wood waste  18 . 4 . 2  such as trees and wood from land clearing activities, and other organic waste such as bio-solids and bio-mass. All reusable wood is recovered using separation platform  68  and sent to a mobile storage  69 . Remaining portion of the said waste group is sent to tree and multi-grade wood chipper  70  to be reduced to desired sizes and segregated using botanical multi grade screen  71  for composting  73  or mulch storage  72 . A botanical decontamination unit  74  is used as needed for biological, chemical, or physical decontamination. Different grades of mulch from  74  or composting  73 , and mulch storage  72  are accepted as needed by mobile storage  75  or  76  for reuse.  
         [0054]    [0054]FIG. 10 shows resource waste transportation system  21  and land based transportation sub system  80  and sea based transportation sub-system  81 . Said land based transportation system  41  includes sub-system  21  where applicable. A sea based transportation sub-system  80 , and a sea and land based transfer station  83  connects said land based transportation sub-system  80  and said sea based transportation sub-system  81 . Said resource waste transportation system  21  includes a vessel  84  which accept a portion of usable resource waste  14  for coastal resources  23 . Said vessel is towed or self powered. A resource waste container  85  can be placed on the said vessel  84  as shown in FIG. 10. 1  and FIG. 10. 2 . and said container  85 , where needed, is connected to a resource waste discharge system  86 . Said discharge system includes said container and container rotational connector  86 , and lift sub-system  87  powered by mechanical or electrical or hydraulics. Said vessel can also be utilized as the transport surface without a container using a secondary discharge sub-system including a lift devise  88  as shown in FIG. 10. 1  or push devise  89  as shown in FIG. 10. 2 .  
         [0055]    [0055]FIG. 11 shows coastal resource waste transportation comprising a vessel having a main hall  90  and buoyancy halls  90 A and  90 B on the sides of said main hall. Said main hall has a discharge port for the resource waste  14  being converted into an artificial reef  23 . 1  through which a controlled construction of an artificial reef is achieved. Said discharge port includes gates  92  connected to said main hall using connectors  93 . Said gates are closed during the transportation and opened where the construction of an artificial reef is located.  
         [0056]    [0056]FIG. 12 shows a method of operating a waste to resource system to produce matter and energy resources including at least one or a combination comprising  
         [0057]    separating waste into groups of at least energy resource  26  and mixed energy waste  46  and  
         [0058]    processing said mixed waste  46  to generate energy and re-use and using said energy resource  26  directly, a gasification sub-system  100 ,  
         [0059]    a landfill gas management sub-system  101 , a bioreactor sub-system  102 , a composting sub-system  103 , a modified WTE sub-system  104 , and a wet biological processing sub-system  105 .  
         [0060]    A storage  106  is included as needed into an integrated energy production system  107 . Said sub-system  104  is modified WTE to achieve higher performance and clean burn using waste to resource which separates and decontaminates the fuel source by creating multiple energy resource. Said integrated energy production system included as needed a decontamination sub-systems  108 A and  108 B. To achieve above with a lower cost in processing a said method of source separation and decontamination is preferred to include decontaminating resource waste where necessary.  
         [0061]    A multiple energy sources are created to generate power through electricity or heat using waste to energy method. Where WTE plants exist, waste to resource can include WTE plants with or without modifications to improve performance as well as the emission discharges related to plastics and other synthetic materials. In summary, the benefits of waste to resource include but not limited to  
         [0062]    construction of active or passive coastal barrier systems using C&amp;D portion of waste stream through a decontamination and certification process,  
         [0063]    integration of passive and active coastal barriers to optimize environmental benefits in a coastal zone system,  
         [0064]    enhancement of fisheries, diving related activities and related tourism,  
         [0065]    protection of costly beach renourishment project investments through managing sediment transport by improving the self maintained wave and coastal system energy spectrum,  
         [0066]    Producing organic soil and mulch for agricultural and landscaping uses, and  
         [0067]    producing resources for clean burn energy plants and creating materials for bio-fuel plants.  
         [0068]    While I have fully shown and described embodiments of my method for waste to resource no limitations as to the scope of the present invention should be implied from the foregoing description. The true scope of the present invention is limited only by the following claims.