Plasma furnace disposal of hazardous wastes
US6552295B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 20, 2000 |
| Grant date | Apr 22, 2003 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 20, 2020 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S588/90
- WIPO fieldChemical engineering
- WIPO sectorChemistry
Abstract
A method and apparatus for plasma waste disposal of hazardous waste material, where the hazardous material is volatilized under vacuum inside a containment chamber to produce a pre-processed gas as input to a plasma furnace including a plasma-forming region in which a plasma-forming magnetic field is produced. The pre-processed gas is passed at low pressure and without circumvention through the plasma-forming region and is directly energized to an inductively coupled plasma state such that hazardous waste reactants included in the pre-processed gas are completely dissociated in transit through the plasma-forming region. Preferably, the plasma-forming region is shaped as a vacuum annulus and is dimensioned such that there is no bypass by which hazardous waste reactants in the pre-processed gas can circumvent the plasma-forming region. The plasma furnace is powered by a high frequency power supply outputting power at a fundamental frequency. The power supply contains parasitic power dissipation mechanisms to prevent non-fundamental, parasitic frequencies from destabilizing the fundamental frequency output power. These power loss mechanisms use either distributed resistance or frequen…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.