WASTE DISPOSAL

Waste materials to be disposed of are fed into a feed hopper, the outlet of which is directed into a rotary vane feeder to automatically control the feed rate and act as an airlock. Shredded waste material is stacked in a pyrolyzing chamber or column through which hot gases, initially containing no oxygen pass upwardly, driving off volatile material. A condenser reclaims the condensable materials, and the non-condensable gases are recirculated through the combustor and pyrolyzing chamber carbonizing the pyrolyzed waste in the lower reaches of the chamber. After pyrolyzing is completed in the lower portions of the waste material, excess air is admitted into the recirculating hot gas stream. Contact of the oxygen in the excess air with the carbonized material causes substantially immediate combustion. Ash from the combustion zone is then dumped into a discharge chute, or, optionally, removed by traveling scraper bars.