Abstract: A multiple hearth furnace feed distributor including a conical table feeder attached to the center shaft of the furnace for rotation therewith, together with a stationary convolute plow fixed above the conical table feeder.

Abstract: There is provided a system for reactivating wet, spent carbon including a drying device to heat the carbon to drive moisture from the carbon as steam. A multiple-hearth furnace receives the carbon from the drying device, and the carbon is baked and reactivated therein. Reactivation is accomplished in the presence of steam, at least part of which is the steam which had been driven from the wet, spent carbon.

Abstract: The following disclosure teaches ways and means for incinerating organic wastes in a multiple hearth furnace equipped with an afterburner. In the furnace, the wastes are pyrolyzed in an oxygen deficient atmosphere which is regulated to only partially complete the oxidation of the organic substances which are pyrolyzed from the wastes. In the afterburner, air is introduced to complete the oxidation of the partially oxidized substances carried by gases and vapors from the furnace. The air supply to the afterburner is controlled so that, at temperatures above a predetermined temperature, the quantity of air introduced is increased with increasing temperatures and is decreased with decreasing temperatures. In other words, the pyrolyzing furnace is caused to operate with a deficiency of air over its operating range, while the afterburner is caused to operate with excess air and the amount of excess air supplied is used to control the operating temperature by quenching.