Flotation process for recovering metals from incineration ash
This technology provides a multi-step process to extract valuable metals—such as copper, zinc, aluminum, and precious metals—from the ash left over after municipal solid waste is burned. It combines several well-established industrial techniques: crushing ash to precise particle sizes, using froth flotation with specific chemical agents to float metal-rich particles, applying magnets to pull out ferrous metals, using density-based separation to isolate heavy metals, and using chemical leaching or solvent extraction for further purification. The key innovation is the specific combination of flotation chemistry (sulfide reagents plus cationic collectors) tuned for the complex, contaminated matrix of incineration ash, and the sequencing of these steps into circuits that progressively concentrate target metals. The result is a pathway to recover commercially meaningful quantities of metals from a waste stream that is currently landfilled or used as low-value construction fill.
What you could build
A licensed processing module or turnkey plant add-on sold to waste-to-energy facility operators or metals recyclers, enabling them to monetize metals from ash streams they currently pay to dispose of; buyers include municipal solid waste operators, secondary metals refiners, and environmental remediation firms.
Who in Virginia should care
Virginia has active waste-to-energy facilities (e.g., Covanta-operated plants) and a growing circular economy policy agenda; municipal solid waste operators and Virginia DEQ-adjacent remediation contractors would be natural contacts.
Readiness: Concept
Concept — described but not yet demonstrated. Lab validated — supported by experimental results in the patent. Prototype likely — the text describes a built, working embodiment.
Readiness is inferred from the patent text, not from a lab visit.
The record
- Inventors
- Wencai Zhang, Subodh Das
- Filed
- Patent pending — filed November 20, 2023
- Status
- Application
- Publication number
- US20240200162A1
Ready to talk?
Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties handles licensing for this technology.
Prosim summaries are generated from public patent text and are not legal advice.