Patent Application
20050229825
The methamphetamine (meth) lab problem is prevalent throughout the United States and the rest of the World. Meth labs used to make the illegal drug are discovered in houses, apartments, motel rooms, sheds, or even motor vehicles. In recent times, Federal, State and Local authorities were involved in the seizure of more than 500 labs in a single state, and the number of such labs seized by law enforcement agencies increases each year.
After a lab is seized by law enforcement officials, professionals trained to handle hazardous materials are generally called in to remove lab wastes and any bulk materials. Some of the chemicals can be disposed of at the site by being mixed with water or other ingredients. However, there are certain chemicals and paraphernalia that must be carefully carried to a special truck or vehicle, and then transported to a far distance point where they are ultimately disposed of in a secluded landfill sometimes located hundreds and hundreds of miles from the site at which they were discovered. The long transportation of these hazardous wastes and materials invites a great problem in the event that any of them would be wrecked, thus creating a dangerous situation wherever such an accident might have taken place.
The cost of loading, transporting, and burying waste materials from typical meth labs can run upwardly of $10,000 per meth lab, and sometimes substantially more.
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to provide a method of disposing of hazardous wastes connected with criminal activity at the site of the activity.
A further object of this invention is to provide a method of disposing of hazardous waste materials connected with criminal activity which is both safe and inexpensive.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
A method of disposing of hazardous wastes connected with criminal activity involves the steps of transporting a portable batch-type incinerator to a site where certain hazardous wastes are located connected to the criminal activity, such as a meth lab site. The next step is identifying the waste materials and sorting through them and selecting waste materials from a group which are combustible in the presence of heat without creating harmful emissions. The selected waste materials are then placed within the incinerator. The incinerator is then heated to a temperature of between 1600-1900° F. for a period of at least one hour and between one hour and two hours to create a particulate residue. The incinerator is then cooled to ambient temperatures, and the residue is collected from the incinerator and put into a portable container. The portable container is then moved from the site and deposited in a convenient local non-toxic landfill. The incinerator is thereupon removed from the site.
The ingredients and equipment that may be involved in typical meth lab activity include the following:
The first step in cleaning up a meth site is to take an inventory of the material at the site and identify the same. At the same time, a portable incinerator pulled behind a pickup truck or the like is brought directly to the site. An incinerator suitable for practicing the method is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,752, and the drawings and descriptive portion thereof are herein incorporated by reference. Any suitable number of wheels can be applied to the incinerator of U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,752 to enable it to be towed to the site. The incinerator has an after-burner through which emissions from the combusted material are channeled to permit particles in the emissions to be further combusted.
The professionals at the site should then sort through the waste materials and select waste materials from the total group of materials which are combustible in the presence of heat and which can be subjected to heat without creating harmful health emissions, defined herein as hazardous air pollutants as described by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as “those pollutants that are known or suspected to cause cancer or other serious health effects, such as reproductive effects or birth defects, or adverse environmental effect”. Examples of hazardous air pollutants include benzene, which is found in gasoline; perchlorethlyene, which is emitted from some dry cleaning facilities; and methylene chloride, which is used as a solvent and paint stripper by a number of industries. Examples of other listed hazardous air pollutants include dioxin, asbestos, toluene, and metals such as cadmium, mercury, chromium, and lead compounds. As defined by the EPA and as defined herein hazardous air pollutants mean the following chemicals:
NOTE:
For all listings above which contain the word “compounds” and for glycol ethers, the following applies: Unless otherwise specified, these listings
(*1) X′CN where X = H′ or any other group where a formal dissociation may occur. For example KCN or Ca (CN) 2.
(*2) Includes mono- and di-ethers of ethylene glycol, diethylene glycol, and triethylene glycol R-(OCH2CH2)n -OR′ where n = 1, 2, or 3; R = alkyl or
(*3) Includes mineral fiber emissions from facilities manufacturing or processing glass, rock, or slag fibers (or other mineral derived fibers) of average diameter 1 micrometer or less.
(*4) Includes organic compounds with more than one benzene ring, and which have a boiling point greater than or equal to 100° C.
(*5) A type of atom which spontaneously undergoes radioactive decay.
Typical chemicals or utensils that can be subjected to heat would include, without limitation, completed supplies of meth itself which appear as hardened solid particles which are typically smoked. Sludge from the meth manufacturing containers is also collected as combustibles along with such meth ingredients as Sudafed® and Ephedrine. Equipment which can either be incinerated or at least sterilized would include laboratory glass ware, coffee filters, tubing, and the like. Such components are placed within the incinerator which is then ignited and heated to a temperature of preferably 1600-1900° F. for a period of at least an hour and preferably two hours. The temperature in the after-burner should be 1600° F. or higher.
Due to the high temperatures, conventional incinerators having metal interiors or metal on metal drawers or other moving pieces may be subject to substantial warping and/or degradation during the incineration process. Accordingly, in one embodiment the present invention provides an incinerator having an interior of the incinerator lined with firebricks. More particularly, each sidewall, each end wall, bottom wall, and each lid includes a firebrick lining. Likewise, the present invention provides an incinerator having a combustion chamber lined with firebricks.
A proper fuel is provided for thorough combustion. A primary burner of the incinerator preferably burns No. 2 diesel fuel, though other fuel may be utilized. For example, the fuel may comprise a mixture such as (diesel fuel/either/Coleman® Fuel). As used herein the term Coleman® Fuel means a particular brand of the more generic product, white gas.
Other components could be the subject of incineration, but harmful emissions might result so they should not be incinerated. For example, iodine crystals, red phosphorous, Lithium, sodium crystals/metals, and lye can be stored in separately labeled Teflon® containers and kept dry for further disposal in accordance with Hazardous Laboratory Chemicals: Disposal Guide: Z28,182-4.
Other harmful components such as anhydrous ammonia can be rendered harmless by being mixed with water under controlled conditions and disposed of at the site. Liquid brake fluid and brake cleaner, for example, can be absorbed by common floor dry and disposed in a landfill. The same would be true for drain cleaner (such as Drano®) or acid mixes that have been neutralized by a neutralizer (e.g. baking soda) and which could be mixed with common floor dry to be disposed of in a local landfill.
The metal or other containers placed in the incinerator and subjected to the foregoing conditions of heat will be thoroughly sterilized after the one hour period. The chemicals which have not been vaporized typically will form a fine particulate material which can be taken from the incinerator after it is cooled to ambient temperatures, placed in a suitable container, and transported to a local non-toxic landfill. The incinerator is thereupon towed from the site and is prepared to repeat the activity at the next discovered meth site.
The method of this invention is also useful at other crime scenes where there is a residue of evidence after the law enforcement persons have removed whatever physical evidence is necessary. The incinerator can be brought to such a site and can be used for disposal purposes of residue material whether it be toxic waste or otherwise without having to introduce special toxic waste transporting equipment for transportation to far distant points.
Similarly, the method of this invention can be used at Courthouses and the like after meth or toxic ingredients have completed their function as evidence in a completed criminal case.
It is therefore seen that the method of this invention will permit the swift disposal of many toxic ingredients at a meth lab site or other criminal scene in a very short time, under very safe conditions, and at a very low expense as compared to loading, transporting and then disposing of the same ingredients at a far distant point.
Some of the selected wastes, such as meth, the meth sludge, are preferably combusted at a temperature of between 1100-1300° F. In that case, the incinerator is first heated to that temperature for about one hour, and then the heat is increased to 1600-1900° F. to deal with the remaining selected combustible ingredients.
It is therefore seen that this invention will achieve at least all of its stated objectives.
This application is a continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 10/100,325 filed Mar. 18, 2002.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 10100325 | Mar 2002 | US |
| Child | 11128968 | May 2005 | US |
