APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR FRACTIONATING ALTERNATIVE SOLID FUELS

Abstract

An apparatus and a method for fractionating alternative solid fuels, specially whole tires, into volatiles and coal, to be used as alternative fuels, and metal, the apparatus comprising: a feeding zone wherein the solid fuels are feed to the apparatus, a gasifying zone into which the solid fuels are processed, obtaining a gaseous fraction, coal and metal; cooled grills controlling the bed permeability and permanence time of the solid fuels at the gasifying zone; and a discharging zone into which the resultant coal and metal are discharged.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] This invention relates to an apparatus and a method for the recovery of energy from solid waste, by combustion of the solid waste in industrial kilns and more particularly to an apparatus and a method for fractionating alternative solid fuels, such as tires, into volatile gases and coal to be used as alternative fuels, and metal.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Since 1980, hazardous solid waste, such as discarded tires from all kind of vehicles, has been used as an alternative or supplemental fuel in kilns for the production of cement.

[0005] The necessity to reduce total fuel costs through the substitution of waste-derived fuels instead the normal fossil fuels, primarily coal, has been the main driving force behind the desirability of cheap alternative fuels to fire industrial kilns such as kilns for producing cement.

[0006] One of the most readily useable and highest heat content non-hazardous wastes, consist of discarded tires. It is estimated that there are about 36 cement plants in the United States utilizing tire derived fuel.

[0007] Whole tires, tires ground into “crumb” and tire chips are used as fuel with essentially similar results.

[0008] Tires ground into “crumb” have the following advantages: 1) allows the steel in the bead and radial bands to be removed via air classification, 2) The crumb can then be blown in together with powdered coal fuel, substituting a part of the powdered coal as the main fuel source, and 2) the transportation storage and management of the crumb is very similar to the managing of coal fines.

[0009] There are however some disadvantages in the use of crumb tires in the kilns for producing cement:: 1) the removal of the steel is from the crumb tires is very difficult, notwithstanding that cement has a need for iron in its process; and 2) the production} of the crumb is quite expensive, making the crumb as costly as the coal or coke.

[0010] Tire “chips” of varying size are routinely used as fuel in kilns for producing cement. These chips range in sizes varying from 2 cm×2 cm to 15 cm×15 cm. In all cases, the transportation, storage and management is essentially the same. Transportation is via truck and storage is generally carried out in an open air pile similar to the storage of coal or limestone. The feeding of the chips into the kiln is via a conveyor fed from a hopper. A front end loader is used to load the hopper from the storage pile.

[0011] The use of tire chips as fuel has some advantages: 1) the feed rate can be continuous and carefully regulated; 2) there is very little manual labor involved in handling chips versus whole tires.

[0012] There are, however, some disadvantages in the use of tire chips: 1) similarly to the tire “crumb”, the production of chips from whole tires is also expensive, certainly not as costly as the production of crumb, but often represent a half the cost of acquiring and delivering the supplemental fuel; 2) the steel wire from the bead and radial belts of the tires do not shear smoothly when the tires are chipped and consequently, the chips are ragged and the steel wires protruding the chips, hook everything they come into contact with, making difficult the operation of the plant.

[0013] Finally, the use of whole tires as fuel in kilns for producing cement, is also common in the cement industry. In this case, trucks loaded with whole tires, deliver their charge at the end of a conveyor. Tires are manually unloaded from the truck onto the conveyor. The conveyor feeds the tires to a mechanism that inserts one tire at a time into the kiln at specified time intervals. The main advantage of using whole tires, is that there is no processing costs in addition to the acquisition costs. Also, unlike tire chips, the whole tires do not migrate throughout the facility nor, like the crumb, they are not subjected to possible “dust fires”.

[0014] However, despite the above advantages the use of hole tires present some problems related to the removal of steel wire from the gasifier section of the kiln, which tends to get entangled into of the gasifier forming a great tangle of wire, affecting the flow of volatiles from the combustion chamber to the kiln or calciner, decreasing the fuel substitution percentage and limiting the use of whole tires as supplemental fuel.

[0015] Therefore, being the use of the whole tires the most reliable and economic alternative fuel, it would be highly desirable to have a method and an apparatus which could avoid the above referred problems in the use of whole tires.

[0016] In recent years, there have been developed a number of methods and apparatuses for the recovery of energy from wastes, specially for kilns for producing cement, which are specially adapted to use tires (both grounded or whole tires) as a fuel substitution in the range of 5% to 25% at best, depending on the type of kiln, fuel and feeding points.

[0017] U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,877 of Ogawa et al. discloses a method and apparatus for continuously producing a cement clinker by using a waste material as a fuel for preheating or calcining a cement material, by using an apparatus comprising a cement material feeder, a preheater or calcinator, a rotary kiln, a cooler and means for flowing an exhaust gas from the rotary kiln to the preheater or calcinator. Said apparatus is characterized by including a heat-decomposer which is located between the preheater or calcinator and the rotary kiln, in which a combustible material is heat decomposed by a hot gas exhausted from the rotary kiln and the resultant combustible gas is burnt in the preheater or calcinator substituting a part of the primary fuel therein. Ogawa's method has the limitation that it is only able to use grounded tires since it does not have any means to prevent entanglements of wire or means to remove the wire which is released when using whole tires. Furthermore, Ogawa's method does not show any means to control the bed permeability and permanence of the grounded tire at the calcination point which would be highly desirable since, by controlling the permanence time and permeability of the bed will allow a complete calcination of the tire and an adequate production and flow of the volatiles to the point of combustion.

[0018] U.S. Pat. No. 4,640,681 of Steinbiss et al. discloses a method and apparatus for the disposition of hazardous and waste materials of low heat content, for example, refuse, by means of a combustion process which is carried out in a furnace, by the presence of added hot combustion air at a sufficient temperature so that the combustion and/or flue gas temperatures are at least 1,250° C. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the combustion process is combined with a process for the production of cement clinker and is carried out parallel to the same, wherein air at about 800° C. is branched off for combustion of the hazardous substances from the cooler air of the cement clinker installation and introduced into the furnace. The hot flue gas of the combustion in the furnace is directed into the cement clinker installation. Although in Steinbiss patent it is possible to control the permanence time of the waste materials in the furnace, this method and apparatus is not intended for whole tires and it is a fluidized bed gasifier. Therefore it can not gasify whole tires and discharge the wire. Furthermore, since the main objective of this invention is the disposition of hazardous and waste materials, it is designed to use only waste materials of low heat content, therefore the quality and quantity of volatile produced is very low and can not be considered as a suitable supplemental fuel for industrial kilns.

[0019] U.S. Pat. No. 4,256,503, of Tsuda et al., discloses a method for effectively utilizing waste tires in an apparatus for burning cement by means of a rotary kiln, comprising the steps of; charging waste tires crushed or without crushing as fuel directly into the back end of the kiln, to a position in said kiln wherein the gas temperature is 600° C. to 1,400° C., in an amount not exceeding 60% of the total fuel calculated as heat energy. The main disadvantage of this method is that the heat released by the combustion of volatiles would overheat the back end of the kiln and would induce the formation of very hard agglomerates which are very difficult to remove.

[0020] U.S. Pat. No. 4,110,121 of Rechmeir et al. discloses a process for producing cement clinker in which raw meal is fed to a heat exchanger, heat is supplied to the heat exchanger from a downstream kiln, the raw meal is heated in the heat exchanger and the heated raw meal is conveyed to the kiln and sintered therein by the use of a fuel to form the cement clinker, the improvement comprises using high grade waste fuel formed from organic waste in the form of tires, rubber scrap, or plastics scrap and wherein the waste fuel is processed before combustion by pyrolysis to form pyrolysis gases and a pyrolyzed residue and said pyrolyzed residue is comminuted or gasified. Although Rechmeir process discloses the separation of the residual carbon form tires, it does not disclose the separation of the wire or the management of the wire into the pyrolyzer, which would limit the use of whole tires.

[0021] U.S. Pat. No. 5,226,774 of Tutt et al., discloses an apparatus for controlling the input of combustible solids through a port formed in a wall of a rotary kiln cylinder of an operating cement kiln at a location between an upper end and a lower fired end thereof, the kiln containing hot mineral material for combustion of said combustible solids in contact with said mineral material. In Tutt's apparatus, the tires are directly feed into the kiln, and therefore the disadvantages are similar to those of Tsuda's method.

[0022] Considering the above referred problems, applicants developed an apparatus and a method for fractionating alternative solid fuels, specially whole tires, into volatiles and coal, to be used as alternative fuels, and metal.

[0023] Applicant apparatus and method provide means to separate the residual carbon and volatile of burned solid fuels, as well as the wire produced by the combustion of the whole tires. Furthermore, there are included means to control the permanence time of the solid fuel at the gasifying zone of the apparatus, which can be optimized for each type of solid fuel.

[0024] Applicant apparatus comprises a main column having a feeding zone, including one or more feeding valves; driving means are provided for opening and closing said feeding valves, a gasifying zone located below the feeding zone, having a cool air input coming from a suitable source such as an air pump; If possible an input for hot air which is used for the combustion of the solid fuels, coming from a suitable source; one or more alternately introduced and withdrawn cooled grills controlling the permeability and permanence time of the solid fuels at the gasifying zone; a gasifier duct in which the volatiles are discharged from the gasifying zone to the main burner or other suitable zone of the kiln or pre-heater wherein the apparatus of the present invention will be used; a discharging zone located below the gasifying zone having one ore more discharging valves which receive the coal and solids coming from the gasifier and which are opened at a convenient time in order to discharge the coal and solids from the apparatus; and a discharging opening situated below the discharging valves.

[0025] Applicant method comprises: providing an apparatus including a gasifier wherein the solid fuels will be partially burned and the volatiles will be emitted; feeding the alternative solid fuel to the gasifying zone of the apparatus; providing cool air to the gasifier and if possible hot air from a suitable source; partially burning the alternative solid fuels into the gasifying zone until most of the volatiles have been emitted, coal with a minimum content of volatiles is obtained, and the non combustible solids are separated; discharging the volatiles from the gasifier for further use; and discharging the resultant coal and solids from the gasifier by gravity or any other known means.

[0026] With Applicant's apparatus and method, the fuel substitution percentage achieved can be higher than 40%, which is higher than the fuel substitution percentages achieved by the actual known methods and apparatuses.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0027] It is therefore a main objective of the present invention, to provide an apparatus and a method for fractionating alternative solid fuels.

[0028] It is also a main objective of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for fractionating alternative solid fuels, of the above disclosed nature, which provide means to separate the volatiles and the residual coal, to be used as alternative fuels, and the non combustible solids, produced by the partial combustion of the solid fuels.

[0029] It is another objective of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for fractionating alternative solid fuels, of the above disclosed nature, which provide means to separate the wire produced by the combustion of whole tires.

[0030] It is also a main objective of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for fractionating alternative solid fuels, of the above disclosed nature, which include means to control the permanence time of the solid fuel at the calcination point, to be optimized for each type of solid fuel.

[0031] It is still another objective of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for fractionating alternative solid fuels, of the above disclosed nature which includes means for controlling permeability.

[0032] It is still a main objective of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for fractionating alternative solid fuels, of the above disclosed nature, in which fuel substitution percentage achieved is higher than 40%, which is higher than the fuel substitution percentages achieved by the actual methods and apparatuses.

[0033] These and other objects and advantages of the apparatus and method for fractionating alternative solid fuels, of the present invention will become apparent to those persons having an ordinary skill in the art, from the following detailed description of the embodiments of the invention which will be made with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] FIG. 1 is a front view of the apparatus for fractionating alternative solid fuels of the present invention;

[0035] FIG. 2 is a diagram of a cement plant, including the apparatus for fractionating alternative solid fuels of the present invention in a first embodiment of use;

[0036] FIG. 3 is a diagram of a cement plant, including the apparatus for fractionating alternative solid fuels of the present invention in a second embodiment of use;

[0037] FIG. 4 is a diagram of a cement plant, including the apparatus for fractionating alternative solid fuels of the present invention in a third embodiment of use;

[0038] FIG. 5 is a diagram of a cement plant, including the apparatus for fractionating alternative solid fuels of the present invention in a fourth embodiment of use;

[0039] FIG. 6 is a diagram of a cement plant, including the apparatus for fractionating alternative solid fuels of the present invention in a fifth embodiment of use;

[0040] FIG. 7 is a diagram of a thermoelectrical plant, including the apparatus for fractionating alternative solid fuels of the present invention as another embodiment of use;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0041] The invention will now be described referring to a preferred embodiment thereof, illustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein the same signs and numbers, refer to the same parts of the shown figures.

[0042] Referring to FIG. 1, the apparatus for fractionating alternative solid fuel comprises:

[0043] gasifying means consisting of a main column 1 having a first end 2 and a second end 3, and including:

[0044] a feeding zone F, having:

[0045] valve means including one or more feeding valves

[0046] comprising gates 4, 4′, located at the feeding zone F, in which the solid fuels S are fed, and which are opened and closed for a convenient time and sequence in order to feed the solid fuels S to the place wherein the combustion will take place;

[0047] driving means for the feeding valves (not shown) which could be hydraulic motors, to open (lifting) and close (lowering) said feeding valves 4,4′;

[0048] a gasifying zone G located below the feeding zone F, having:

[0049] input means for hot air 5 which is used for the combustion of the solid fuels S1 coming from a suitable source (not illustrated) which could be, in case of applying the present invention to a rotary kiln for producing cement, the tertiary air duct or the clinker cooler;

[0050] input means 6 for cool air coming from a suitable source such as an air pump;

[0051] mesh means comprising one or more alternately introduced and withdrawn cooled grills 7, 7′, 7″ having internal pipes (not shown), into which cool air or water is circulated by means of a pump, said cooled grills controlling the bed permeability and permanence time of the solid fuels S at the gasifying zone G and are able to be withdrawn in order to discharge the coal and solids, after the separation of volatile and solids is achieved, to a discharging zone D avoiding the formation of very hard agglomerates which are very difficult to remove;

[0052] driving means for the cooled grills (not shown) which operatively introduce or withdraw said cooled grills 7, 7′, 7″;

[0053] a duct 8 into which the volatiles are discharged from the gasifying zone G for further use, said volatiles serving as supplemental fuel;

[0054] a discharging zone D located below the gasifying zone G having:

[0055] valve means including one ore more discharging valves comprising gates 9, 9′ which receive the coal C and solids, such as wire W, coming from the gasifier G and which are opened at a convenient time in order to discharge the coal and solids C from the apparatus; and

[0056] a discharging opening H located below the discharging valves 9, 9′ to discharge the coal C and solids, such as wire W, from the apparatus.

[0057] It is to be understood that, the gasifying means can be a vertical column wherein the feeding zone, the gasifying zone and the discharging zone are placed in a downwardly sequence, or else, it can be a horizontal chamber wherein the feeding zone, the gasifying zone and the discharging zone are placed in a side by side fashion, and in this embodiment it would be needed a mechanical feeding device including an hydraulic cylinder and piston assembly (not shown).

[0058] The apparatus of the present invention can be used for fractionating continuously batches of supplemental fuel, such as whole tires, so that when a first batch of burning material is placed at the feeding valves 4,4′ which are initially closed, a second batch may be already at the gasifying zone G, wherein the cooled grills 7, 7′, 7″ are sequentially opened at predetermined times, depending on the characteristics—such as size—of the supplemental fuel being processed, thus controlling the bed permeability and permanence time, and avoiding the formation of agglomerates inside the apparatus. The grill cooling means (not shown) avoid that the pipes forming the grill lose mechanical properties due to overheating or corrosion.

[0059] When the last cooled grill is opened 7″—if the apparatus has more than one grill—, the resultant coal C and solids, such as wire W, are discharged to the discharge valve 9, which is opened at a convenient time as well as the other discharge valves 9′—in case that the apparatus has more than one discharge valve—, when a predetermined amount of coal C and solids W are obtained.

[0060] The last feeding valve 4′ is opened discharging the supplemental fuel to the first cooled grill 7, as soon as this is emptied.

[0061] Therefore, the apparatus of the present invention can be fed with whole tires, without problems such as wire entangling, obtaining a complete separation of volatile, coal and wire.

[0062] Although it was mentioned that the apparatus of the present invention has an input of hot air 5, it is also suitable to operate without a hot air input when there is not available.

[0063] As it was mentioned, one of the applications of the present invention is at the cement industry, in which the installation of the present apparatus is at a rotary cement kiln or calciner, using whole or shredded tires as supplemental fuel.

[0064] Referring to FIG. 2, a first possible embodiment of use of the apparatus of the present invention R, at a rotary cement kiln, is by installing the apparatus at the back end of the cement kiln, feeding the apparatus with whole or shredded tires T, injecting air form the atmosphere A, taking hot air from the tertiary air duct 9—if the kiln has a tertiary air duct—, and discharging the volatiles V to the pre-calciner or calciner 10 to substitute primary fuel M, and discharging wire W and tire coal C to the kiln input 11 to substitute primary fuel. The wire is integrated to the clinker K, substituting part of the iron required in the form of an oxide. The main advantages of this form of use are that the volatiles are burned where it is required. Therefore there is less tendency to form hot points and agglomerates at the input of the kiln, than in the case in which all the alternative fuel is directly fed to the kiln.

[0065] Referring to FIG. 3, a second possible embodiment of use, is as described in the first one, but additionally discharging the wire W to the outside of the apparatus and of the rotary kiln 12, to containers or to a conveyor belt (not shown). This way of use is suitable for the production of white cement in which the iron oxide content is less than in the normal cement.

[0066] Referring to FIG. 4 a third possible embodiment of use, is as described in the second one, but discharging the tire coal C to the main burner 13. The main advantage of discharging the tire coal C to the main burner 13 is that a higher percentage of primary fuel substitution can be achieved mainly because the tire coal C is burned in the main burner 13 after reaching the limit of energy amount substituted at the pre-calciner.

[0067] Referring to FIG. 5, a fourth possible embodiment of use consists on using the residual air from the clinker cooler 14 which is hotter than the atmosphere air, instead of using hot air from the tertiary air duct 9. The volatiles V are discharged and burned in the main burner 13 and the tire coal C is discharged to the calciner 10, achieving a higher percentage of primary fuel substitution. In this case, the wire W is discharged outside of the apparatus and of the rotary kiln 12, to containers or to a conveyor belt (not shown). Therefore it is possible the application of the recuperator R of the present invention at kilns without a pre-calciner.

[0068] Referring to FIG. 6, a fifth possible embodiment of use is as described in the fourth one, but discharging the tire coal C to the main burner 13. Therefore it is also possible the application of the recuperator R of the present invention at kilns without a pre-calciner.

[0069] Referring again to FIG. 1, a sixth possible embodiment of use is as described in the first one, but, instead of using whole or shredded tires, alternative solid fuels having similar or the same properties of the tires, are used, i.e., so that a residue similar to coal be obtained.

[0070] Although it has been mentioned that the apparatus of the present invention can be used at the cement industry, it can be used at any kind of industry having industrial kilns. For example, referring to the FIG. 7, it can be used at a thermoelectrical plant or any other industrial kiln, discharging the volatiles V and tire coal C to the main burner 15, and discharging the wire W to outside of the apparatus.

[0071] The method for fractionating alternative solid fuels, specially whole tires, according to the present invention comprises the steps of:

[0072] providing an apparatus including a gasifier wherein the solid fuels will be partially burned and the volatiles will be emitted;

[0073] feeding the alternative solid fuel to the gasifying zone of the apparatus;

[0074] providing cool air to the gasifier from the atmosphere and if possible hot air from a suitable source;

[0075] partially burning the alternative solid fuels into the gasyfing zone until most of the volatiles have been emitted, coal with a minimum content of volatiles is obtained, and the non combustible solids are separated;

[0076] discharging the volatiles from the gasifier to an industrial kiln wherein the substitution of primary fuel will be made;

[0077] discharging the resultant coal and solids from the gasifier by gravity or any other known means to an industrial kiln wherein the substitution of primary fuel will be made or to a conveyor belt or to a container for further use.

[0078] Although it was described that it is provided hot air to the gasifier from a suitable source, it is suitable to make the combustion with cool air only.

[0079] Finally it must be understood that the apparatus and method for fractionating alternative solid fuels of the present invention, is not limited exclusively to the above described and illustrated embodiments and that the persons having ordinary skill in the art can, with the teaching provided by this invention, to make modifications to the design and component distribution of the, apparatus and method for fractionating alternative solid fuels of the present invention, which will clearly be within the true inventive concept and scope of the invention which is claimed in the following claims.

Claims

1. An apparatus for fractionating alternative solid fuels, into a gaseous fraction, a coal fraction, and a solid fraction, comprising:

gasifying means into which the solid fuels are processed, including a first end and a second end;

a feeding zone at the first end of the gasifying means;

feeding means, operatively placed at the feeding zone of the gasifying means, in order to control feeding of solid fuels;

a gasifying zone next the feeding zone, wherein the partial combustion of the solid fuels will take place;

air feeding means connected to the gasifying zone for feeding air for the combustion of the solid fuel;

mesh means at the gasifying zone, controlling the permeability and permanence time of the solid fuels at the gasifying zone;

cooling means associated with the mesh means, in order to control the temperature of the mesh means;

driving means for the mesh means which open or close said mesh means, for discharging the coal fraction and the solid fraction, after a complete separation of the gaseous fraction of said solid fuels in order to avoid the formation of agglomerates into the gasifying means;

gas exhaust means, into which the gaseous fraction is discharged from the gasifying zone for further use;

a discharging zone next the gasifying zone; and

discharging means at the discharging zone which receive the coal fraction and the solid fraction from the gasifying zone.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the gasifying means comprise a vertical column.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the gasifying means comprise a horizontal chamber.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the feeding means comprise feeding valve means including driving means to open and close said feeding valve means.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the feeding valve means comprise a plurality of gates in which the solid fuels are fed.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driving means for the feeding valves means comprises hydraulic motors which lift and lower said feeding valve means.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the air feeding means comprise an air pump to feed air at ambient temperature.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the air feeding means further including a hot air input from a suitable source at the gasifying zone in order to control the temperature thereof.

9 The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the mesh means comprise a plurality of grills.

10. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cooling means of the mesh means including internal pipes inside said mesh means, into which cool water is circulated by means of a pump.

11. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the cooling means of the mesh means including internal pipes inside said mesh means, into which cool air is circulated by means of a pump.

12. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driving means for the mesh means comprise hydraulic motors for alternately introduce or withdraw said mesh means.

13. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharging means comprise a plurality of gates.

14. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharging means include driving means.

15. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the driving means of the discharging means comprises hydraulic motors which lift and lower said discharging valve means.

16. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the feeding means feed the solid fuel to the gasifying zone, by gravity.

17. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the feeding means feed the solid fuel to the gasifying zone, by an hydraulic piston and cylinder assembly

18. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharging means discharge the coal fraction and the solid fraction from the gasifying zone to the discharging zone, by gravity.

19. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharging means discharge the coal fraction and the solid fraction from the gasifying zone, by an hydraulic piston and cylinder assembly.

20. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharging means discharge the coal fraction and the solid fraction from the discharging zone to the outside of the apparatus, by gravity.

21. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharging means discharge the coal fraction and the solid fraction from the discharging zone to the outside of the apparatus, by an hydraulic piston and cylinder assembly.

22. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharging means discharge valve means including driving means which open and close said discharging valve means in order to discharge the coal fraction and the solid fraction from the apparatus.

23. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein gasifying means are placed at a back end of a kiln for producing cement, the hot air input is taken from a tertiary air duct of the kiln, the discharging means discharge the gaseous fraction to a pre-calciner or calciner section of the kiln to substitute primary fuel, and the discharge means discharge the coal fraction to a kiln input to substitute primary fuel and the solid fraction is integrated to a cement clinker, substituting part of iron required in the form of an oxide.

24. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharging means discharge the solid fraction to a feeding conveyor belt of a kiln for the production of cement..

25. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharging means discharge the coal fraction to a main burner of a kiln for the production of cement.

26. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the hot air input comes from residual air from a cement clinker cooler and the discharge means discharge the solid fraction outside of the gasifying means, to containers for an application to a recuperator of a kiln for the production of cement having no pre-calciner.

27. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the discharging means discharge the coal fraction a main burner of a kiln fro the production of cement. having no pre-calciner.

28. A method for fractionating alternative solid fuel, into a gaseous fraction, a coal fraction, and a solid fraction comprising the steps of:

providing an apparatus including a gasifying zone wherein the solid fuels will be partially burned and the volatiles will be emitted;

feeding the alternative solid fuel to the gasifying zone;

providing an air input to the gasifying zone;

partially burning the alternative solid fuels into the gasifying zone until most of the volatiles have been emmitted, coal with a minimum content of volatiles is obtained, and the non combustible solids are separated;

discharging the volatiles from the gasifier for further use;

discharging the resultant coal and solids from the gasifying zone for further use.

29. A method according to claim 7, further comprising providing hot air from a suitable source to the gasifying zone in order to control the temperature in the gasifying zone.

30. A method according to claim 7, wherein the discharging of the resulting coal and solids from the gasifying zone is carried out by gravity.

31. A method according to claim 7, wherein the discharging of the resulting coal and solids from the gasifying zone is carried out by mechanical means.