Abstract: Incinerator dryer grates with temperature control provided by two-phase steam. Very wet bulk refuse entering an incinerator sits on a grate before falling onto a hearth floor below. This drives off volatile hydrocarbons and allows drying. The grate may also provide combustion air. The drying process causes the moisture content of the refuse to fall below 50 percent where combustion may occur. Two-phase steam passes through separate channels in the grate to control its temperature. The oxygen-containing gas emanating from the grate into the combustion chamber may contain gaseous products of combustion, or flue gas, with or without air to make use of the former's heat and moisture content. When the flue gas contains chlorine, its temperature should, through the addition of cool air, fall within the range of 400° to 750° F. To avoid chlorine corrosion, blowers propelling the flue gas must either remain out of the gas stream entirely or should only contact the flue gas after cooled to this temperature range.

Abstract: Incinerator improvements involving seals around a pulsing hearth floor or between moving hearth floor sections. The seals reduce or prevent the passage of contaminating gases into or out of an incinerator chamber having a moving hearth. The seals may utilize troughs filled with a fluid such as water, sand, or pebble-like material. Alternately, the seals may include heat-resistant webs of material attached to the relatively moving parts, flexible, resilient sections of material such corrosion resistant, spring stainless steel or heat-resistant fabric affixed to one part and held against the other, or pads of fibrous, heat resistant material including those of alumina or silicon oxide fibres lodged between the moving parts. An air knife may keep combustion gasses within the main incinerator chamber. Combinations of these different seals can achieve isolation of the environment and obviate possible deleterious side effects of using only one type.