Post by klmhq on Jun 25, 2004 19:55:48 GMT -5
First of all, I didn't get to shoot it or take a picture of it. Company regulations, sorry.
I went to our local Dupont chemical plant this week on a class field trip. We went to see their incinerator. Imagine a brick tube 14 feet in diameter by 48 feet long. Imaine this tube being heated by burning 12,000 cubin feet per minute of natural gas to a temp of 1700-2400 degrees (F). Then throw in whatever you want to incinerate. Don't bother taking the chemical out of the 55 gallon drum, just toss the whole drum in.
That's what they do in this place. It is really beyond cool. The thing lays on its side at about a 15 degree angle and rotates once every eight minutes. Because they throw in the whole container, slag builds up. The slag is stuff that doesn't burn, like steel oil drums, machine parts, etc. This stuff melts and rolls out the end of the kiln (the brick rotating part). As soon as it comes out, the material cools and usually solidifies.
The Winchester 8 guage shotgun comes in when this buildup of slag gets too great and potentially could damage the kiln (about once a month). They open a small port into the kiln, load a 8 gauge slug, aim, and let fly. It usually takes about 250 rounds to get the slag cleared up. They like using lead shot, but lead isn't good when it's a vapor, so they went to steel. Steel causes damage to the kiln bricks though, so now they are using copper. It costs about $3.00 per round.
The barrel is about an inch in diameter (internal) and about 3 inches in diameter (external). The barrel is about 2.5 to 3 feet long. This is an industrial gun, so no stock or even sites. It is a bolt action, single shot cannon. About halfway down the barrel is a steel fire grate to prevent hot slag from hitting the crew.
This was a really neat gun. I just wish they had let us seeing them fire it.
I went to our local Dupont chemical plant this week on a class field trip. We went to see their incinerator. Imagine a brick tube 14 feet in diameter by 48 feet long. Imaine this tube being heated by burning 12,000 cubin feet per minute of natural gas to a temp of 1700-2400 degrees (F). Then throw in whatever you want to incinerate. Don't bother taking the chemical out of the 55 gallon drum, just toss the whole drum in.
That's what they do in this place. It is really beyond cool. The thing lays on its side at about a 15 degree angle and rotates once every eight minutes. Because they throw in the whole container, slag builds up. The slag is stuff that doesn't burn, like steel oil drums, machine parts, etc. This stuff melts and rolls out the end of the kiln (the brick rotating part). As soon as it comes out, the material cools and usually solidifies.
The Winchester 8 guage shotgun comes in when this buildup of slag gets too great and potentially could damage the kiln (about once a month). They open a small port into the kiln, load a 8 gauge slug, aim, and let fly. It usually takes about 250 rounds to get the slag cleared up. They like using lead shot, but lead isn't good when it's a vapor, so they went to steel. Steel causes damage to the kiln bricks though, so now they are using copper. It costs about $3.00 per round.
The barrel is about an inch in diameter (internal) and about 3 inches in diameter (external). The barrel is about 2.5 to 3 feet long. This is an industrial gun, so no stock or even sites. It is a bolt action, single shot cannon. About halfway down the barrel is a steel fire grate to prevent hot slag from hitting the crew.
This was a really neat gun. I just wish they had let us seeing them fire it.