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Tire-Burning Furnace Gets Spark
A clean burning solid waste combuster, with wide implications
for communities and industry, is getting the fuel it needs to
fire up. The fuel in this case, however, is brain and production
power.
Rocco DiSanto,
a local restaurant owner and lifetime inventor, has teamed up
with a high-tech Maine manufacturing company to get the boost
he needs to bring a dream to reality. DiSanto first designed the
combustion furnace in the mid-1970's, received a patent in 1991,
and has had serious interest in it from the U.S. Navy, various
manufacturers, and state agencies.
Rich Technology
International (RTI), a division of Rich Tool & Die company of
Scarborough. RTI and a state-of-the-art development facility for
designing and producing precision components for such customers
as General Electric and Pratt & Whitney is working with DiSanto
to develop a prototype that will be ready for emissions testing
early this spring. In the past, DiSanto kept his dream alive with
a prototype built of old spare parts and junkyard materials. The
combustor which DiSanto patented eight years ago, is essentially
a coiled steel tube that is pre-heated with an oil-powered burner.
Once the furnace
is pre-heated a mixture of air and powdered rubber - or carpet
remnants or other wastes is blown into the hot coil, where it
turns to liquid and then to gas. The resulting heat can run a
turbine to make electricity, DiSanto said.
One of the
biggest advantages of the furnance is its retention time of eight
seconds plus, according to DiSanto. "The longer the burn, the
cleaner," he said.
Although emissions
tests have not been completed RTI's engineers are confident DiSanto's
combustor will not pollute the air.
Engineers and
designers at RTI have been applying computer technology to make
some improvements to DiSanto's furnace, including fuel mixing
capabilities and temperature monitoring. Because of the changes,
they are apply-ing for another patent. Like DiSanto's original,
the furnace still has no moving parts and can be operated almost
continually. With RTI's improvements, the combustor will be easier
to use, RTI's plant manager Eric Nelson said.
The new prototype
was displayed at an open house at RTI on February 5. Maine's Governor
King attended the event to learn about RTI's investment in new
technology and the implications of the combustor. Maine has over
60 million tires stockpiled at landfills and other sites. The
combustor could turn those into heat energy with the equivalent
of 180 million gallons of oil, the Governor said.
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