Patent ID: 7794524

Claim:
A method of removing vaporizable contaminants from a particulate material, said method comprising (a) in a reaction area, contacting said particulate material with heated gases, said gases being at a temperature at or above the temperature at which said contaminants vaporize to thereby vaporize the contaminants from the particulates and to entrain the particulates in the gases; (b) directing the gases containing the particulate material and the vaporized contaminants to a first dust collector for the particulate material having a temperature at or above the temperature at which said contaminants vaporize, in which first dust collector said particulate material is separated from the gases containing vaporized contaminants, after which said gases containing vaporized contaminants exit said first collector; (c) injecting into the contaminant-containing gases after the gases exit the first dust collector an interactive agent that interacts with the contaminants in the gases that is selected from the group consisting of (i) a sorbent material on which the contaminants are physically and/or chemically adsorbed and (ii) a chemical reagent which chemically reacts with the contaminants to thereby form a product from the agent/contaminant interaction and decrease the amount of contaminant in the gases; (d) directing the gases containing the product to a second collector wherein said product is separated from the gases.