Fuel by-products of municipal refuse

Claim 2

The product defined in claim 1 wherein said mixture also includes significant amounts of plastic, food waste, vegetation and textile materials.

Claim 3

The product defined in claim 1 wherein all of said particles are sufficiently small to pass through a screen member having circular openings not greater than one inch in diameter.

Claim 4

removing from said treatment vessel in slurry from a portion of said liquid medium and such of said organic and inorganic particles as pass through perforations sized to pass only particles of less than said predetermined maximum size,

Claim 5

removing from said treatment vessel separately from said slurry said relatively infrangible solids,

Claim 6

The product defined in claim 1 wherein said uniform moisture content comprises 40-70 percent of said mixture.

Claim 7

The product defined in claim 1 wherein all of said particles are sufficiently small to pass through a screen member having circular openings approximately one-eighth inch in diameter.

Claim 8

removing from said slurry the inorganic constitutents thereof, and

Claim 9

removing from the resulting slurry of said organic solids and liquid medium a substantial portion of said liquid medium to leave said particulate mixture, the major component material of said mixture being cellulose fibers, the particles in said mixture being of less than a predetermined maximum particle size, and said mixture having the following additional characteristics on a volumetric unit basis: a. substantial homogeneity of component materials; b. substantial uniformity from the standpoint of distribution of particle sizes; c. substantially uniform moisture content; and d. substantially uniform fuel value.

Claim 10

The product defined in claim 3 wherein said maximum size particles are not sufficiently small to pass tHrough a screen member having circular openings approximately one-eighth inch in diameter.

Claim 11

The product defined in claim 2 wherein cellulose fibers constitute approximately 80 percent of said mixture.

Claim 12

The product defined in claim 2 wherein cellulose fibers constitute approximately 60 percent of said mixture.

Claim 13

The product defined in claim 2 wherein cellulose fibers constitute approximately 40-50 percent of said mixture, and said maximum size particles are not sufficiently small to pass through a screen member having circular openings approximately one-eighth inch in diameter.

Claim 14

A process for preparing municipal solid waste for combustion comprising the steps of: a. depositing municipal solid waste, including relatively frangible and infrangible organic and inorganic solids, in a treatment vessel together with a liquid medium in sufficient volume to establish a solids content of the order of 4 to 6 percent, b. subjecting said solids in the presence of said liquid medium in said treatment vessel to mechanical and hydraulic forces of sufficient intensity to reduce said relatively frangible organic and inorganic solids to particles of a predetermined maximum size forming a mixture with said liquid medium, c. removing from said treatment vessel in slurry form a portion of said liquid medium and such of said organic and inorganic particles as pass through perforations of the order of one inch in diameter, d. removing said relatively infrangible solids from said treatment vessel separately from said slurry, e. removing from said slurry the inorganic constituents thereof, f. accumulating a substantial volume of the resulting slurry to assure the homogeneity thereof, and g. removing from the resulting slurry of said organic solids and liquid medium a substantial portion of said liquid medium.