Non-Chemical Incineration

[Geo]

i really don't have access to a furnace that has the temperatures needed to remove the carbon.I've looked at building my own and have found some plans online i believe i could follow but other issues are more pressing at the moment.i built a smelter to pour aluminum ingots,although small at five pound ingots, it works just fine.i made it from a 100 LB propane bottle and a canister type vacuum cleaner as the blower.i thought it may work to remove the carbon but it runs at too low a temperature to do the job.i checked with my hand held laser thermometer and it stays between 900 and 1,000 degrees F.im afraid if i add oxy to the fuel ill melt the end out of it as it isnt insulated.
edited after checking notebook on temps.

 

[Palladium]

i built a smelter to pour aluminum ingots,although small at five pound ingots, it works just fine.i made it from a 100 LB propane bottle and a canister type vacuum cleaner as the blower.

You got any pictures?

 

[rusty]

i built a smelter to pour aluminum ingots,although small at five pound ingots, it works just fine.i made it from a 100 LB propane bottle and a canister type vacuum cleaner as the blower.

You got any pictures?

Here is the furnace I built

 

[Geo]

actually i dont.i will try to remember to snap a few when i can.

 

[qst42know]

i really don't have access to a furnace that has the temperatures needed to remove the carbon.I've looked at building my own and have found some plans online i believe i could follow but other issues are more pressing at the moment.i built a smelter to pour aluminum ingots,although small at five pound ingots, it works just fine.i made it from a 100 LB propane bottle and a canister type vacuum cleaner as the blower.i thought it may work to remove the carbon but it runs at too low a temperature to do the job.i checked with my hand held laser thermometer and it stays between 900 and 1,000 degrees F.im afraid if i add oxy to the fuel ill melt the end out of it as it isnt insulated.
edited after checking notebook on temps.

If you can melt aluminum you can certainly eliminate carbon irregardless what your thermometer says. Aluminum melts well above the point carbon oxidizes. Your furnace lacks the second stage to consume the soot in the smoke.

 

[Geo]

i really don't have access to a furnace that has the temperatures needed to remove the carbon.I've looked at building my own and have found some plans online i believe i could follow but other issues are more pressing at the moment.i built a smelter to pour aluminum ingots,although small at five pound ingots, it works just fine.i made it from a 100 LB propane bottle and a canister type vacuum cleaner as the blower.i thought it may work to remove the carbon but it runs at too low a temperature to do the job.i checked with my hand held laser thermometer and it stays between 900 and 1,000 degrees F.im afraid if i add oxy to the fuel ill melt the end out of it as it isnt insulated.
edited after checking notebook on temps.

If you can melt aluminum you can certainly eliminate carbon irregardless what your thermometer says. Aluminum melts well above the point carbon oxidizes. Your furnace lacks the second stage to consume the soot in the smoke.

would i just place the material in a sturdy steel container then place inside the furnace for X amount of time? the highest temps is just in front of the blower pipe. would i need to rotate the container?

 

[butcher]

I incinerate with hand held torch, and either hot plate or propane burner, I have tried stainless steel pan, but I prefer a white square corning ware casserole dish or one of those violet glass type skillets, a lot of the stuff I incinerate are salts of metals and acids, so I will neutralize them and rinse them well first, I will start heat low because they can bubble and splash out material, once dry they will usually cake up here I crush them to powder, I have a large piece of Pyrex boiler sight glass that works like a mortar to crush them with, then I raise the heat to high(usually several hours on stove), now they will fume off gases, and a lot of the times go back into a liquid syrup form, once they dry again they are crushed and ground back to powder, now with the burner still on high I use the hand held torch to roast these powders, consistently stirring powders, until no more gas is released, and they glow red hot, I keep this red hot temperature for about an hour, stirring and exposing them to air to oxidize them.

For larger batches, dig a hole fill with charcoal some wood to get fire going and roast them on charcoal fire.

 

[amosfella]

would placing the boards in a stainless steel container work to incinerate, without the PMs plating or adhering to the steel?? Can one melt gold and silver in a stainless container without it plating out?? Or does one need a crucible??

 

[Geo]

never use anything metal to melt gold and silver in.molten metal acts like a solvent to other metals and will mix readily.

 

[butcher]

amosfella,
you do not want to incenerate circuit boards, the resin are very toxic and deadly fumes form from many of the metals and chemicals used in making circuit boards.
very bad Idea.

 

[AndyWilliams]

I incinerate with hand held torch, and either hot plate or propane burner, I have tried stainless steel pan, but I prefer a white square corning ware casserole dish or one of those violet glass type skillets. . .

For larger batches, dig a hole fill with charcoal some wood to get fire going and roast them on charcoal fire.

I'm wondering if a small, old, propane grill would work, could even use some lava rocks to keep heat. What temp would I need to get too?

 

[ericrm]

Glondor, how did it ended ?

 

[Jimmy]

I have an oven that can do almost 3000F if anyone is interested. Got ball mills too.

The eaisiest fuel fired crucible furnace to make is one using a oil burner from an old furnace. Beckett and blue flame sell them for about $500. These will do about 200,000 btu. If you need a really big one Beckett makes them up to about 3.000,000 btu's
You can burn straight used motor oil as fuel after temp is up and there wont be any smoke. You just need to filter it and fun diesel thru it as you shut down. Used motor oil gets really stickey.
They are much eaisier to use than propane or nat gas.

 

[cejohnsonsr]

I had an idea for an incinerator. I'm hoping someone will be able to give me confirmation that it's a good idea or explain why it won't work before I build it. (Actually, my Son, who is a master welder, will build it for me.)

It's a 2 chamber arrangement with the outer chamber being made of 1/2" steel & the inner chamber of 1/4" or 3/8" steel. The inner chamber is roughly the size of a 5 gallon bucket. There is a 3 legged stand for the inner chamber to sit on. The outer chamber is big enough to allow for 1' of coal under the inner chamber and 1' all the way around. The idea is to lay the bottom layer of coal, place the inner chamber & then fill the area around the inner chamber with coal up to the level of the top lip of the inner chamber. I plan to put 3 air inlets equidistant around the bottom of the outer chamber. The exact design isn't carved in stone, but basically it entails 3 steel pipes extending from the outer chamber about 4'. Then steel braided hoses to a manifold connected to a regulator or valve. An air compressor is the supply. It will be topped with a lid that is conical with a small opening in the top for exhaust/draft. I figure I can fill the inner chamber with whatever needs to be incinerated, cap it. light it, feed it some air once it's burning & just wait until all the coal is gone.

I'm really interested to hear what you guys think.

Ed

 

[Geo]

I had an idea for an incinerator. I'm hoping someone will be able to give me confirmation that it's a good idea or explain why it won't work before I build it. (Actually, my Son, who is a master welder, will build it for me.)

It's a 2 chamber arrangement with the outer chamber being made of 1/2" steel & the inner chamber of 1/4" or 3/8" steel. The inner chamber is roughly the size of a 5 gallon bucket. There is a 3 legged stand for the inner chamber to sit on. The outer chamber is big enough to allow for 1' of coal under the inner chamber and 1' all the way around. The idea is to lay the bottom layer of coal, place the inner chamber & then fill the area around the inner chamber with coal up to the level of the top lip of the inner chamber. I plan to put 3 air inlets equidistant around the bottom of the outer chamber. The exact design isn't carved in stone, but basically it entails 3 steel pipes extending from the outer chamber about 4'. Then steel braided hoses to a manifold connected to a regulator or valve. An air compressor is the supply. It will be topped with a lid that is conical with a small opening in the top for exhaust/draft. I figure I can fill the inner chamber with whatever needs to be incinerated, cap it. light it, feed it some air once it's burning & just wait until all the coal is gone.

I'm really interested to hear what you guys think.

Ed

overkill. you will wind up melting your container.too, incineration is a process that needs oxygen. without a good supply of oxygen,its just pyrolizing the material leaving alot of carbon behind. perhaps a better design would be a thick walled tank like a 100# propane bottle with a door cut in one side facing up. affix a length of steel pipe inserted through the bottom horizontally. add a 1/4 inlet to the steel pipe to attach a small copper fuel line to. attach a small blower the the open end of the pipe and a bottle of propane to the fuel line. add a short piece of pipe at the front end as a vent.
now you can load almost anything (electronic's, IC's, jewelers buffing wheels, rugs) turn on the blower, turn on the gas and toss in a light.

 

[cejohnsonsr]

Hi Geo. You really think I'd melt 1/4" steel inner container? I didn't think it would get that hot. I was trying to make something that worked along the lines of the incinerator I saw in your video, but that would last longer. I guess I'll have to give it some more thought.

Thanks,

Ed

 

[Anonymous]

Well I am pleased to say I finally found a company willing to incinerate for me! We will do a trial run tomorrow. I am taking 15 lbs of flatpacks off of memory, 10 lbs of hard drive boards, 10 pounds of pin blocks from cell boards and 10 pounds of fingerless memory.. 850 degrees in oven, 1700 degree afterburner. Other than putting a loose cover on the steel pails is there anything else i should know? The oven operator has not done this type of material before and is very interested. Interested enough to do the first run for free! It is a commercial oven for industrial parts burn off. Now if I only had a ball mill.....

i have a furnace for sale just listed it today on here

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Geo. You really think I'd melt 1/4" steel inner container? I didn't think it would get that hot. I was trying to make something that worked along the lines of the incinerator I saw in your video, but that would last longer. I guess I'll have to give it some more thought.i have a furnace for sale i just listed it today on here

Thanks,

Ed

 

[butcher]

Coal and coke with forced air can get hot enough to blacksmith, weld iron, or melt iron.

 

[Geo]

the incinerator in the video i made used wood and still melted the bottom out of the steel bucket in the video. the incineration occurs with direct flame on the material. you couldnt see the inside but there was a steel mesh sheet with the components just poured into it.