Patent ID: 7026570

Claim:
An apparatus for neutrilizing and dissociate waste that is contained in a container comprising: a housing that is configured such that the apparatus is a single transportable unit; a dissociation chamber for the treatment of the container containing the waste, the chamber being configured and sized to receive and hold the container, the chamber having a plasma core generated therein and being defined as an RF coupled plasma, the chamber including a feature to manipulate the flow of the plasma such that it flows completely around the container and flows at a temperature greater than 8,000° K in order to cause a dissociation of the container and the waste contained therein, the chamber including a collector/separator area for individually and selectively collecting by species various materials resulting from the dissociation of the container and waste, the species being transported by means of the plasma flow in the chamber an RF generator unit for generating sufficient power at the selected frequency to generate and maintain the plasma core in the chamber and a array of RF antennas that are embedded in a wall that defines the dissociation chamber for emitting the selected radio frequency to cause dissociation of the container and its waste due to the plasma core engulfing the container and its contents; a robotic unit for loading one or more containers that hold the waste into the dissociation chamber, the robotic unit being configured so that it recognizes and selects the proper container that is to be dissociated, the robotic unit being in communication with a database to permit inventorying prior to disassociation of the container and waste; a cooling unit associated with the chamber that serves to maintain a temperature gradient of at least the embedded RF antennas and optionally other components below a predetermined temperature in order to maintain the functional characteristics of the walls of the chamber and RF antennas; and wherein after the container is opened, the waste material is caused to flow through the plasma core as opposed to flowing around it to ensure complete dissociation.