Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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SYSTEM FOR FINAL DISPOSAL OF WASTE BY COMPACTION AND BAGGING
TECHNICAL FIELD
The following descriptive report on the application of this invention
refers to the development of a system for final disposal of waste by
compaction
and bagging which comprises a set of operations employed to determine the
best manner of disposing waste in general (garbage) by using a system with or
without recycling and high pressure compaction, in order to reduce empty
spaces
arising from this process and existing in the waste for the purpose of its
further
bagging for conditioning and final disposal in proper places.
STATE OF THE ART
Waste or garbage is any useless, unwanted and/or worthless material
generated by human activities, which has to be disposed of. It is any material
whose owner disposes of it, desires to dispose of it, or has to dispose of it.
The term "waste" is generally applied to materials in solid state.
Meanwhile, liquids or gases considered useless or unwanted are generally
called
residues (liquid or gaseous). However, both terms 'waste' and 'residue' can be
also used to describe fluids and solids, respectively.
There are different types of waste that can be classified by their
composition, for example:
- Organic waste whose chief component is human-generated garbage
and which may be highly hazardous since it may host and easily transmit a
great
variety of vermin, bacteria, fungi, and viruses. The organic waste may be
sorted
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and used as fertilizer (composting) or for producing certain types of fuels
such as
biogas which is rich in methane (anaerobic digestion).
- Inorganic waste which includes any material that is of non-biological
origin or that has been generated by human activities such as plastic, metals
and
alloys, glass, etc.
A great deal of inorganic waste poses a big problem: when thrown
away directly into the environment without prior treatment, it takes a long
time to
decompose. For example, plastic is composed of a complex structure of
molecules strongly linked among themselves, which makes difficult its
degradation and further digestion by decomposing agents (primarily, bacteria).
To solve this problem, different inorganic products are biodegradable.
- Toxic residues which include batteries, that contain acids and heavy
metals in their composition, certain types of inks (such as used in printers),
and
industrial refuse besides.
- Highly toxic residues composed of nuclear and hospital waste.
- Household waste formed by solid residues produced by household
activities, out of which approximately 60% is organic and the rest is composed
of
plastic packaging, cans, glass, paper, etc.
- Urban solid waste which includes household waste such as residues
produced at public facilities (for instance, parks), business facilities, as
well as
construction and demolition debris.
- Industrial waste generated by industries, which is generally highly
harmful to the environment and human health.
There are different known kinds of waste disposal, for example:
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- Landfills are considered to be a practical, cheap manner of
disposing of urban and industrial waste in addition to untreated sewage. That
is
why they are the most used manner of treating waste. Large areas of land on
which the waste is deposited are used for this purpose. However, besides being
a source of pollution of soil, rivers and lakes, and air, they make useless
several
materials that could be recycled. The pollution arises from the process of
decomposition of organic matter that generates enormous quantities of biogas
which contains methane and other toxic components, and leachate, a liquid that
contains toxic components that flow out of the waste into the soil and bodies
of
water (such as rivers and lakes) in the region.
- Incinerators literally incinerate waste reducing it to ashes. They are
highly polluting and produce enormous quantities of pollutants such as gases
that contribute to worsening the greenhouse effect. It is a method used for
destructing hospital waste that may contain agents causing potentially fatal
diseases.
- Composting is an aerobic treatment by means of which organic
matter decomposes into fertilizer or compost.
- Anaerobic digestion or methanization is a treatment by anaerobic
decomposition that produces biogas which is composed of approximately 50% of
methane and may be burned or used as a fuel. The solid residue of the
anaerobic digestion can be aerobically treated to produce compost.
- Permanent confinement is mainly meant for nuclear waste.
- Recycling is a process that involves reusing organic and inorganic material
of
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the waste. It is considered to be the best waste management method as far as
the environment goes since it reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills,
and diminishes the need for extracting more raw materials directly from the
nature. However, many materials cannot be continuously recycled (especially,
fibers). The recycling of certain materials is viable but it is little or not
practiced
at all because it is not economically feasible. Some forms of waste,
especially,
highly toxic waste, cannot be recycled and has to be disposed of.
Different systems for recycling, treating, composting, storing, and
disposing of urban, industrial, etc. waste were found in our search for the
art
relating to the technical field of the invention (B09B 3/00, B65F 9/00, and
B65F
1/14).
BRPI 0.100.745 by ZULAF discloses a selective waste collection
system, implementation of a recycling and waste disposal center for sorting
and
processing urban, rural, business, industrial and service, and even health
care
waste, sanitary and industrial landfills, units for recycling construction
debris,
units for bagging sorted materials for further recycling, units for anaerobic
(optional) and aerobic composting, recycling of biogas and thermal power
(optional), in addition to cemeteries for dead animals, thermal treatment of
solid
health care residues, and installations for pre-conditioning waste for further
processing and disposing of it in landfills, and treatment (or evaporation) of
residual water from the process and leachate.
Another waste recycling procedure is disclosed by BRPI 9.402.243 by
ULIANA and comprises a dispensing area in an area of manual selection of
recyclable materials, a washing area, waste collection trucks depositing waste
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onto the horizontal sides of the dispensing area that convey said waste to a
feeding box that feeds slanted transporting conveyor belts that carry the
waste
up to a container (9) that will be taken to a selection area, or to a big
capacity
container which is adequate for rational transportation to a landfill in the
selection
area, the waste being transported by the conveyor belt from which the
responsible personnel pick the recyclable materials.
BRPI 9.504.827 by LIBARDI also serves as an example, in which
organic waste is taken by trucks to the landfills of the dumps, waste
incinerators
or composting stations, and inorganic waste is taken to a storehouse (or
storehouses) with a slanted transporting conveyor belt that carries it into
the feed
hopper, from which it will be thrown onto the main conveyor belt with a
multiplicity of the lateral transporting conveyor belts for collecting the
waste
selected by professional pickers, said conveyor belts having open boxes for
collecting selected waste, while the unselected waste is taken to a box placed
at
the other end of the main conveyor belt.
Another patent that involves the process of industrial, urban, and
hospital waste management by selecting, recycling, composting, and
incinerating
waste materials by means of a pyrolytic process is disclosed by BRPI 9.816.124
by BENTO et alii which presents, as a principle, the incineration of waste by
a
process called pyrolysis in which the waste itself is a fuel of the
incinerators used
in the process, thus eliminating the need for landfills.
Furthermore, BRPI 0.204.673 describes a station that generates
electric power by transforming solid household waste, and BRPI 9.806.421 by
MORTE describes an advanced waste processing station.
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PROBLEMS OF THE ART
As can be seen in the art disclosed above, all of the known solutions
use the selection, recycling, pyrolysis, composting, and landfilling with some
details changed. However, the pyrolysis produces a huge environmental impact
as a result of CO2 emissions that only contribute to increasing the greenhouse
effect, and the remaining processes all end up in undesirable landfills. Some
processes disclosed by the art are harmful to the environment such as the
burning of waste or landfills. The composting is an advanced treatment and a
lot
less harmful to the environment, in which the residual methane gas from the
anaerobic activity of the bacteria may be used. Nevertheless, in order to be
able
to use the biogas, a confining structure has to be built, which generates an
additional cost to the waste.
Waste is confined only in case of nuclear and hospital residues due to
the risk of nuclear and biological contamination. Nonetheless, this
confinement is
extremely expensive and it is permanent.
SOLUTION PROPOSED BY THIS INVENTION
Therefore, due to the considerations relevant to the state of the art
discussed above, one of the objectives of the application of this invention is
the
development of a final waste disposal system with compaction and bagging
which uses the means of collection and compaction described in the patents PI
0.206.617 (Attached collector and compactor for collecting household waste)
and
PI 0.300.535 (Attached collector, compactor, and bagging machine for waste in
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general), these two waste collection devices using the bagging of the highly
compacted waste in adequate high-resistance plastic bags. Said plastic bags,
after compaction at high pressure, are sent to a proper landfill.
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
This application for the patent of invention proposed herein is
characterized by means of the drawings representative of the system for final
disposal of waste by compaction and bagging in such a manner that the
proposed method could be wholly reproduced by the adequate technique,
allowing the full characterization of the functionality of the objective
claimed
herein.
The descriptive part of the report is based on the developed figures
that express the best or preferred manner of implementing the product
conceived
herein through a detailed and consecutive numeration, in which it clarifies
the
aspects that may be implied by the adopted embodiment in order to clearly
determine the protection claimed herein.
These figures are merely illustrative and may vary since they do not
digress from what has been initially claimed herein.
Therefore, in this case, it is as follows:
FIGURE 1 shows a schematic view of the plan of the waste disposal system with
waste compaction and bagging without the application of recycling,
composed of two compactors fed by the same feed hopper
(optionally, individual feed hoppers) whose estimated bagging
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capacity is up to 100 T/day. Another option is to use only one
compactor with the bagging capacity of up to 50 T/day;
FIGURE 2 shows a schematic view from above of the system disclosed in the
Figure 1;
FIGURE 3 shows a schematic view of the proposed system with compaction and
bagging, but with the recycling process;
FIGURE 4 shows a plan of a landfill for disposal of bags after the compaction
stage as a result of one of the solutions proposed above; and
FIGURE 5 shows a perspective view of the plan of the installation of the waste
compacting, bagging machine with no truck unloading.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFFERED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION
The proposed system comprises two solutions:
a) The system without recycling is composed of:
- A concrete ramp (1) to provide access for a truck that has collected
household waste which is unloaded through a cargo gate (11);
- A metallic recipient or feed hopper (2) that receives waste from the
truck, protected by an expanded metal plate railing (4) and a mesh (6) that
carries the material from the feed hopper to the compactor;
- A compactor (3 and 3a) that receives the waste from the recipient,
feed hopper (2), compacts it at high pressure (10.00 Kg/cm2) reducing the
initial
amount of waste by more than four times by means of a compacting plate (7),
which, in its turn, is activated by the hydraulic cylinder (8), the waste
being
bagged later in laminated and water-proof polypropylene bags, with one or two
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bags (5 and 5a) of an adequate diameter and length, and sealed by means of a
hydraulic system (9), and the bag is further transported through a back
opening
which is activated by another hydraulic system (10).
b) The system with recycling is composed of:
- A concrete ramp (12) to provide access for a truck that has collected
household
waste;
- A first feed hopper (13) that receives waste from the truck;
- A conveyor belt (14) that receives the waste from the first feed hopper and
transfers it to a second conveyor belt.
- A second conveyor belt (15) installed on a metallic platform (16) from which
the
pickers select the solid waste with added value into specific carts (20);
- A second feed hopper/grinder (17) that receives the waste from the second
conveyor belt (organic waste);
- A compactor (18) for up to 50 T/day or two compactors for up to 100 T/day
that
receive(s) waste into recipients (second feed hopper/grinder) and compact(s)
it at high pressure (10.00 Kg/cm2) reducing the initial amount of waste by
more than four times, the waste being bagged later in laminated and water-
proof polypropylene bags (19) of an adequate diameter and length. The bag is
sealed by means of a hydraulic system (9) and the bag is transported through
an opening of the back gate which is activated by another hydraulic system
(10).
BAGGING SYSTEM
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The bags (5 and 5a) are produced in stationary compactors (3, 3a, or
18) that receive the organic waste material (with no economic value) from the
selection conveyor belts (15) and a feed hopper (17). The waste is compacted
at
high pressure and bagged in laminated water-proof polypropylene bags (19)
whose weight of the tissue may vary from 120, 160 up to 180 g/cm2, depending
on the kind of waste that is bagged.
The bagged waste has no contact with air, which avoids spreading
unpleasant odors, proliferation of insects and bacteria that cause different
diseases. Nor has it contact with rainwater, thus avoiding the formation of
leachate and, as a result, contamination of the ground water.
The compactor is fitted with a hydraulic device that allows preparing
and replacing the bag refill itself, thus allowing the preparation of
different bags in
each refill.
The weight of the bags may vary (predominantly, organic waste) and
may exceed 4.5 tons; however, when a lot of dry waste is mixed, it may reach
3.5-4.0 tons.
The completely full bags store 5m3 of compacted waste, that's why
they may absorb up to 20m3 of waste in its natural state since its compaction
may reach 4:1.
According to the data provided by the bag tissue manufactures, if they
are covered (there's no contact with ultraviolet light), the tissue will last
200
years. However, when exposed to sunlight, its duration is 6 months. In the
event
that longer exposure to sunlight is necessary, the tissue can be protected by
anti-
UV layers.
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The bags can be moved and/or transported in a practical and safe
manner with the help of a device especially developed for moving them, which
is
attached to a motorized crane or the like.
DISPOSAL OF CLEAN WASTE BAGS AND STORAGE CAPACITY PER HECTARE
Bags can be disposed of in a landfill in three different ways:
- Negative. When the layers of bags are below the ground level, that is, they
are
fully buried.
- Positive. When the layers of bags are placed on the soil upwards, that is,
no
bag is buried.
- Semipositive. One part of the bags is buried and another part is on the
ground.
Example: in three layers of the bags, the first layer is under the ground, and
the other two layers are on the ground.
For the purposes of calculation, let us consider a positive landfill
where the bags will be placed one next to the other with a maximum distance
between the bags of 0.15 meters. We are projecting, above the basis level, the
height of two more bags, the bags being arranged in a . pyramidal manner
reaching the total height of 5 meters. Thus, we will be able to store 6,318
bags or
31,590 tons per hectare.
Considering that there are 56 bags placed in one way (with enough
spacing between them) and 39 bags placed in the opposite way (with enough
spacing between them) in the first layer of bags, therefore, we can deposit a
total
of 2,184 bags.
Equally, if we consider the second layer, we will form a pyramid of
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54x39=2,106 bags.
The third layer: 52x39=2,028 bags.
The total of the bags deposited on one hectare = 6,318 bags. Thus,
approximately 31,590 tons of compacted waste can be stored on one hectare.
Also, digging a 0.80-deep pit that is equal to one half of the diameter
of the bag (1.60 meters) is quite common. The dirt from the pit is later used
for
covering the bags in the last layer, thus avoiding transportation of earth for
covering the bags.
