The original goals of Zurn and Pedco in developing the Rotary Cascading Bed Combustor (RCBC) were: (1) the development, full scale proofs and commercialization of a combustion technology that could cleanly fire coal and municipal/industrial wastes and (2) the application of that technology, through cost effective and efficient systems, to the solution of critical coal utilization problems of industry and waste management problems of local and regional governments.

Many industrial firms which rely on coal as a readily available low cost source of power, simply cannot afford to switch fuels in order to meet the requirements of the Clean Air Acts. Because of the costs necessary to deal with environmental factors, well-established companies could be put out of business or forced to move operations out of the Country, severely damaging local and regional economies.

Across the United States, local governments are facing the almost indefinable economic and environmental issues of waste disposal, including mandated standards for resource recycling and landfill reduction. Elected officials and taxpayers are faced with the difficult issues of longer-term public good and the consequence of higher taxes.

It is the objective of Quality Recycling to prepare for commercialization practical, cost effective and easily duplicated coal utilization and waste management systems based on the RCBC technology. Such operating systems will allow regional governments and businesses to work together to solve mutual problems in waste management and utilization of coal as a clean energy source. It will be possible for:

The RCBC technology involves a new and unique combination of well known and time tested principles. The technology was developed to create, within a rotating cylindrical combustion chamber, conditions for the clean combustion of diverse fuels and wastes ranging from high sulfur coals to municipal solid waste. In the RCBC, fuels are burned in cascading contact with sorbents, and recirculating inert solids, to form harmless byproducts preventing gaseous emissions. A sorbent, such as limestone, reacts with sulfur and HCl to form calcium sulfates and chlorides, which are, removed as non-hazardous ash. Moreover, sorbent chemical reactions take place at combustion temperatures low enough to greatly retard formation of oxides of nitrogen. Unique internal and external fuel recycling systems promote combustion gas and sorbent contact and also extend dwell times assuring clean and complete combustion of fuels and wastes. Unique characteristics of the boiler allow “on the fly” fuel changing, making it extremely versatile in using fuels of highest availability and lowest cost.

The RCBC has clearly shown its capability to burn a wide variety of fuels, including both high sulfur coals and refuse derived fuels, in an environmentally acceptable manner. Sulfur content in the coals tested ranged from 1.8% to 6.77%. Ash content of the bituminous coals ranged up to over 42% and the anthracite wastes to over 60%. Other materials tested included waste coals, rubber, movie film, municipal solid waste, wood wastes, coal tar, industrial sludges and used oils. It was found that fuels could be changed “on the fly” without shutting down or losing desired steam conditions. And by test, the RCBC thermal efficiencies are comparable to other solid fuel industrial boilers.