Patent Application
20150121978
Not applicable to this application.
Not applicable to this application.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the handling of waste materials such as garbage and more specifically it relates to a garbage to fertilizer conversion system for converting garbage into fertilizer and potting soil.
2. Description of the Related Art
Any discussion of the related art throughout the specification should in no way be considered as an admission that such related art is widely known or forms part of common general knowledge in the field.
The disposal of waste materials such as household garbage and commercial trash is a significant problem facing many municipalities. Current landfills will eventually reach capacity and new landfills are extremely difficult to open due to citizen opposition and permitting issues from state and local regulators. It is important to reduce the volume of waste materials deposited into landfills in order to maximize the life of the landfill. Current processes for the treatment of garbage suffer from several problems. The current treatment processes produce materials that are not readily marketable. The current treatment process produce materials that have a high moisture level and are difficult to store and ship.
Because of the inherent problems with the related art, there is a need for a new and improved garbage to fertilizer conversion system for system for converting garbage into fertilizer.
The invention generally relates to a garbage to fertilizer conversion system which includes a processing building for receiving garbage material. A processing machine is located in the processing building for separating the garbage material into compostable and non-compostable materials. A magnetic separator receives said compostable materials from the processing machine. The magnetic separator separates ferromagnetic materials from the compostable material. An auger assembly receives the compostable material from the magnetic separator and moves and discharges the compostable material to form at least one pile of the compostable material. A heater is located under the pile of composted material for heating the pile of compostable material and forming a composted material. A three stage screen receives the composted material and separates the composted material into three sizes. A dryer receives the composted material and discharges a dried composted material. A trommel screen receives the dried composted material and separates the dried composted material into a small sized fraction and a medium sized fraction dried composted material. A fertilizer building receives the small sized fraction composted material for storage. A packaging building receives the medium sized fraction composted material for packaging.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, some of the features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and that will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto. In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction or to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of the description and should not be regarded as limiting.
Various other objects, features and attendant advantages of the present invention will become fully appreciated as the same becomes better understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and wherein:
Turning now descriptively to the drawings, in which similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views,
The remaining garbage materials are primarily organic materials and are piled for heating and composting 32 over a period of time. Heaters apply heat to the compost piles to maintain the interior of the piles between 170 to 215 degrees Fahrenheit. During the composting process, a variety of micro-organisms breakdown the organic materials into compost. After composting, the composted material is sorted for size by screening through a three stage screening operation 34. The three stage screening operation 34 includes a first screening stage 35, a second screening stage 36 and third screening stage 37. The first screening stage 35 removes oversize composted material 40. The oversize composted material 40 is returned to the composting process 32, where the oversize composted material 40 is further broken down. The second screening stage 36 removes medium sized composted material 39. The medium sized composted material 39 is sent to a dryer to undergo a drying operation 41. The third screening stage 37 removes finely sized composted material 38. The finely sized composted material 38 is also sent to a dryer to undergo a drying operation 41. The finely sized composted material 38 is sent to the dryer as a separate batch of material from the medium sized composted material 39 such that the two different sized composted materials are not mixed.
During the drying operation 41, water and moisture are removed from the fine composted material 38 and the medium composted material 39 resulting in dried compost material that contains a desired moisture level. After the drying operation, the fine composted material 38 and the medium composted material 39 are separately sent through a trommel screening operation 42. The trommel screening operation 42 separates the fine composted material 38 and the medium composted material 39 into two different sizes. The small dried compost material or fertilizer 43 has an average size of 3 to 4 millimeters in diameter. The medium dried compost material or potting soil 44 has an average size of 4 to 12 millimeters in diameter. The fertilizer 43 is transferred to a building for storage 46. The potting soil 44 is transferred to a building where the potting soil 44 is packaged into bags in a bagging operation 45. The bags of potting soil 44 are then stored 48.
Referring to
With reference to
Garbage trucks 60 enter the processing building 64 and dump the household garbage 20 onto floor 68. A front end loader loads the garbage 20 from a storage pile 77 onto a conveyer belt 78. The conveyer belt 78 carries the garbage into a separating or processing machine 80. The separating machine 80 is an automated machine that removes glass 24, plastic 25 and aluminum 26 from the remaining material with is primarily organic waste and paper. The glass 24, plastic 25 and aluminum 26 fall via gravity into bins and can be recycled. The remaining material is transferred to a grinding machine 81 where the material is subjected to a grinding operation in order to reduce the size of the garbage material. The ground up remaining material exits processing building 64 on a conveyer belt 82.
Turning to
The remaining waste material 92 is carried by a sloping portion 93 of conveyer belt 84 upwardly and into a rectangular shaped elevated auger assembly 101 that is suspended on legs 95. Auger assembly 101 has a trough 94 that includes side walls 96 and a bottom wall 97. Walls 96 and 97 define a channel 98. A rotating auger 99 is mounted in channel 98 and is coupled to an electric motor that can rotate the auger. Several doors 100 are mounted in bottom wall 97 along the length of the trough 94. Doors 100 can be spaced every 25 feet along trough 94. Doors 100 can be selectively opened and closed. Rotating auger 99 moves the waste material 92 along the length of the trough 94.
Compost area 105 is located under auger assembly 101. Compost area 105 has a cement floor 106 and heaters 107 mounted on floor 107. In one embodiment, heaters 107 are electric heaters. As the remaining waste material 92 is moved along trough 94 by rotating auger 99, doors 100 are opened such that the waste material falls through doors 100 to form compost piles 108. After the piles 108 are formed, the waste material is left to compost for a period of time. In one embodiment, the composting time is between 45 and 55 days. During composting, the temperature within the compost pile is maintained between 170 to 215 degrees Fahrenheit by heaters 107. Forming the compost piles 108 evenly assists in maintaining the temperature during the composting process. In one embodiment, the slope of floor 106 is 1 percent. Sloped floor 106 is slanted toward a central collection basin 109. Any waste liquids 33 released from compost piles 108 will flow into central collection basin 109. Waste liquids 33 are pumped by a pump 110 from collection basin 109 through a pipe 111 and through a filter 72 to remove any remaining solids. After the filter 72, the waste liquids 33 are pumped through another pipe 73 into one or more storage tanks 74. The waste liquids 27 and 33 in storage tanks 74 can be diluted and used as a liquid fertilizer.
Referring to
The first screen 119 removes oversize composted material 40 from the top of screen 119. The oversize composted material 40 is transferred by conveyer belt 122 from the first screen 199 to a pile 125. The oversize composted material 40 from pile 125 is returned to the compost pile 108 by the front end loader 76 where the oversize composted material 40 is further broken down. The second screen 120 removes a medium sized fraction composted material 39 from the top of screen 120. The medium size composted material 39 is transferred by conveyer belt 123 from the second screen 120 to a pile 126. The third screen 121 removes a finely sized fraction composted material 38 from the top of screen 121. The finely sized composted material 38 is transferred by conveyer belt 124 from the third screen 121 to a pile 128.
With reference to
The trommel screen 136 rests on support members 137 and slopes downwardly from the entrance end 138 to the exit end 139. Conveyer belt 135 deposits material into entrance end 138. The trommel screen 136 separates the dried fine composted material 38 and the medium composted material 39 into two different sized fractions or component sizes. Small dried composted material 43 falls through the trommel screen 136 and is deposited onto conveyer belt 140. The small dried composted material 43 has an average size of 3 to 4 millimeters in diameter. The small dried compost material 43 is transferred via conveyer belt 140 to fertilizer storage building 142.
The medium dried composted material 44 exits the exit end 139 and is deposited onto conveyer belt 144. The medium dried compost material 44 has an average size of 4 to 12 millimeters in diameter. The medium dried compost material 44 is transferred to a bagging building 145 where the medium dried compost material 44 is packaged into bags in the bagging operation.
In use, garbage 20 is weighed on a scale 61 to determine the weight of the garbage. The garbage 20 is placed into a processing machine 80 by a front end loader 76 to segregate out non-compostable materials from the organic materials. The processing machine 80 removes glass 24, plastic 25 and aluminum 26 and deposits these via gravity into bins. These materials can be recycled. The garbage is then ground or shredded by a grinding machine 81 to a smaller size. The ground or shredded garbage is transferred by conveyer belt 82 to a magnetic separation conveyer belt 83 to undergo a magnetic separation process using magnets 88 to remove ferromagnetic materials such as iron and steel.
The remaining garbage materials are primarily organic materials and are transported by a conveyer belt 93 and auger 99 and are deposited into compost piles 108. During a composting process, a variety of micro-organisms breakdown the organic materials in compost piles 108 into compost. The temperature of the compost piles 108 are maintained by heaters 107 between 170 to 215 degrees Fahrenheit. After composting, the composted material is sorted for size by screening through a three stage screen 118. The three stage screen 118 has a first screen 119, a second screen 120 and a third screen 121. A front end loader 76 moves the composted material 114 from the compost piles 108 into three stage screen 118. The first screen 119 removes oversize composted material 40. The oversize composted material 40 is returned to the compost piles 108 by the front end loader 76, where the oversize composted material 40 is further broken down. The second screen 120 removes medium sized composted material 39. The medium sized composted material 39 is moved to a dryer 134 by the front end loader 76 to undergo drying. The third screen 121 removes finely sized composted material 38. The finely sized composted material 38 is moved to a dryer 134 by the front end loader 76 to undergo drying.
The medium sized composted material 39 and finely sized composted material 38 are placed in a bin 130 and transported to the dryer 134 by a conveyer belt 131. During drying, water and moisture are removed from the fine composted material 38 and the medium composted material 39 resulting in dried compost material that contains a desired moisture level. The dried compost materials exit the dryer on a conveyer belt 135 and are transferred into trommel screen 136. The trommel screen 136 separates the fine composted material 38 and the medium composted material 39 into small and medium sizes. The small dried compost material 43 has an average size of 3 to 4 millimeters in diameter and can be used as fertilizer. The medium dried compost material 44 has an average size of 4 to 12 millimeters in diameter and can be used as potting soil. The small dried compost material 43 is transferred to a fertilizer building 142 via a conveyer belt 140 for storage. The medium dried compost material 44 is transferred to a packing building 145 via a conveyer belt 144 where the medium dried compost material 44 is packaged into bags 152 by a bagging machine 150. The bags 152 are then stored in a storage area 154.
Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although methods and materials similar to or equivalent to those described herein can be used in the practice or testing of the present invention, suitable methods and materials are described above. All publications, patent applications, patents, and other references mentioned herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety to the extent allowed by applicable law and regulations. The present invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential attributes thereof, and it is therefore desired that the present embodiment be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. Any headings utilized within the description are for convenience only and have no legal or limiting effect.
