Patent ID: 7087140

Claim:
A carbonizing waste processing apparatus, comprising: (a) a radiant tube having upstream and downstream ends and an interior chamber extending between said upstream and downstream ends; (b) means drivingly coupled to said radiant tube for rotating said radiant tube; (c) means for heating said radiant tube to generate a hot zone of a preselected temperature in said interior chamber therein for carbonizing waste in said radiant tube so as to generate granular char and vapors from the waste; (d) means for successively transferring the waste into said upstream end of said radiant tube; (e) means disposed at upstream and downstream locations in said radiant tube for temporarily impeding movement of the waste through said interior chamber of said radiant tube from said upstream end to said downstream end thereof so as to ensure that residence time of the waste in said radiant tube is sufficient at said upstream location to carry out evaporation of moisture from the waste and at said downstream location to elevate the temperature of any solids in the waste for completion of carbonization of the waste in said radiant tube, said means for impeding movement of the waste in said radiant tube including a pair of baffles each being of truncated conical shape and spaced apart upstream and downstream from one another relative to said upstream and downstream ends of said radiant tube; (f) means for discharging from said radiant tube granular char and vapors generated by the carbonization of the waste in said radiant tube; (g) means for transferring the generated and discharged granular char to a discharge collection location; and (h) means for receiving the generated and discharged vapors and flowing the generated and discharged vapors through a succession of condensing tubes so as to condense and separate the vapors into oil, water and methanol from remaining gas.