Organic recycling with a pipe-cross or tubular reactor

Abstract

The invention is directed to a process for enhancing the plant nutrient value of relatively low analysis organic waste material (e.g. sewage sludge) involves treating the waste material with an acid and base in a pipe-cross,reactor or tubular to form a melt; spraying the melt onto a recycling bed of fines in a granulator and flashing off the water contained in the melt as steam; rolling the melt onto recycled fine particles in a granulator to form granulated particles; and drying these granulated particles in a to form an enhanced plant nutrient value composition (e.g. a fertilizer or soil conditioner having a greater NPK value than the original relatively low analysis organic waste material). The process further includes drawing off the fumes from the granulator, passing them through a dryer with the granulated particles, and subsequently oxidizing the fumes to eliminate volatile organic compounds and/or gaseous hydrocarbon pollutants be converting such into carbon dioxide and water vapor.

1 . A method of treating an organic waste material to form a nutritional composition for plants comprising:
 mixing said organic waste material with scrubber water to form a slurry capable of being pumped;   pumping said slurry to a reactor selected from the group consisting of a pipe-cross reactor and a tubular reactor for reaction with a base and acid to form a melt;   spraying said melt onto a recycling bed of fines in a granulator, and flashing off water contained in said melt as steam;   rolling said melt onto fine particles in said granulator to form granulated particles;   further reacting the melt with ammonia in the granulator to complete product formation reaction;   drawing fumes from said granulator;   oxidizing said fumes to reduce any noxious odor associated therewith; and   drying said granulated particles in said dryer to reduce the moisture content thereof to form dried granulated particles comprising an enhanced plant nutrient value composition.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the organic waste material comprises relatively low analysis organic waste material. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the reactor is a pipe-cross reactor. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  which does not exhaust significant amounts of noxious odors. 
     
     
         5 . A process for preparing a composition that is capable of providing nutrition to plants from a waste material comprising:
 pumping a slurry form of the waste material through a pipe reactor for reaction with at least one base or acid to form a high temperature melt;   spraying the melt from the pipe reactor directly onto a recycling bed of fines in a granulator, and flashing off water contained in the melt as steam;   rolling the melt onto particles in the granulator to form granulated particles; and drying the granulated particles to reduce the moisture content thereof to form dried granulated particles.   
     
     
         6 . The process of  claim 5  wherein the pipe reactor is located within the granulator. 
     
     
         7 . The process of  claim 6  wherein the granulator is a rotating cylinder. 
     
     
         8 . The process of  claim 5  wherein the pipe reactor comprises two cross pipes. 
     
     
         9 . The process of  claim 8  wherein two acids are introduced via the two cross pipes. 
     
     
         10 . The process of  claim 9  wherein the two acids are sulfuric acid and phosphoric acid. 
     
     
         11 . The process of  claim 5  wherein the temperature is maintained at less than 149 degrees centigrade. 
     
     
         12 . The process of  claim 5  further comprising adding water to the waste material to form a slurry prior to pumping. 
     
     
         13 . A system of exothermically mixing a pipe fed sludge slurry with one or more fluid reagents introduced by one or more cross pipes to produce a high temperature mixture, wherein the temperature is controlled by a feedback system that adjusts turbulence introduced by a protuberance. 
     
     
         14 . The device of  claim 13  wherein the protuberance is selected from the group consisting of a bump in the plumbing, at least two bumps in the plumbing, an orifice plate and two or more orifice plates. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13  wherein the turbulence is adjusted by at least one action selected from the group consisting of moving the protuberance, altering the penetration of the protuberance into the plumbing, switching of cross pipe reactors, adjusting the flow rate of the sludge, and adjusting the flow rate of one or more of the fluid reagents.