Method of operating a smokeless pyrolysis furnace with ramp and soak temperature control system

Abstract

Abstract A method of operating a batch-type pyrolysis furnace to burn organic combustibles so that the effluent from its exhaust stack is essentially free of smoke. This is accomplished without the aid of any catalyst or catalytic device to purify the smoke. For its main heat source, the furnace uses a gas burner or electric heating coil in combination with an afterburner to burn volatiles generated in the furnace's main chamber. A single thermocouple (throat TC) senses the instantaneous temperature in the throat of the furnace and in cooperation with a programmable controller (PC), maintains a preselected ramp and soak temperature profile over the entire burn cycle. When the temperature required by the profile is exceeded, a single water spray is actuated by a signal from the PC to lower the temperature below the profile. The throat TC thus maintains a fire under controlled temperature conditions in the main chamber without an explosion, using a single-stage system. This single-stage control system, for additional safety and redundancy, may include two back-up thermocouples, one in the main chamber (main chamber TC), and a second (stack TC) in the exhaust stack downstream of the afterburner. The main chamber TC senses the ambient, essentially instantaneous temperature at that location, and actuates the water spray system. The main chamber TC and the stack TC may each also attenuate the output of the main burner and control its on/off operation.

Inventors

• 👤 Robert A. Koptis
• 👤 Robert F. Heran

Bibliographic Details