Components:  The calcine chamber assembly consists of the following parts: 1. Calcine chamber shell, complete with insulation, refractory, gaskets, mounting hardware, and the attached parts listed below; 2. Nine (9) U-tube radiant heaters, complete with burners, recuperators; 3. One (1) stainless steel fluidized bed (distribution) plate with integral orifice tubes; 4. Two (2) lower access hatches to enable the bed to be cleaned out; 5. One (1) calcine chamber cover, complete with integral soil inlet, gas outlet, & 2 holes for observation ports; 6. Four (4) observation ports with wide viewing area - 3 straight and 1 angled to view the bed; 7. Eight (8) thermocouples plus 2 additional unused connections for later use; 8. One (1) soil outlet double dump valve with pneumatic cylinder actuators; 9. One (1) soil level sensor connected to the soil outlet double dump valve; 10. One (1) upper access hatch including a hinge door; 11. One (1) soil inlet isolation valve with pneumatic cylinder actuators; 12. One (1) soil inlet expansion joint; 13. One (1) soil feeder/auger and bin; 14. Two (2) soil level sensors in the soil feeder bin to sense high and low soil levels; 15. Structure to support the feeder, and a ladder to provide access to top of cover; 16. One (1) integral gas inlet connection at the bottom of the calcine chamber.  The calcine chamber can be divided into four sections:  Plenum, Fluid Bed, Intermediate Heat Zone, and Quieting Chamber (Gas Room).

Plenum:  The lowest section of the chamber is referred to as the Plenum.  The process gas flow enters the chamber at this point.  An 8" flanged pipe passes through the chamber wall to form the gas inlet.  The pressurized plenum area distributes the gas evenly to the stainless steel bed plate which divides the plenum from the fluid bed.  The bed plate consists of 88 evenly-spaced fluidizing tubes.  Each tube (1.93" I.D.) has small orifice holes drilled around the circumference at even spacing.  An average velocity of 160 feet per second through .219" dia. orifices distributes the flow evenly across the entire bed plate.  

Fluid Bed:  The fluid bed is entirely filled with soil.  The fluid bed is important to both heating and retention time.  Five (5) radiant U-tubes are installed through the length of the bed.  The mode of heat transfer is a combination of conduction, convection and radiation.  Gas velocity passing through the soil cause the soil particles to suspend and move, creating the "Fluid Bed".  The gas is preheated to 1200° F. before it enters the chamber.  As this preheated gas flows around the particles, it will heat via convection heat transfer.  The vigorous mixing of the soil greatly assists the heat transfer.  As the soil particles move/flow around the U-tubes, heat input by radiant heating is achieved.  As the particles contact one another and contact the radiant tubes, heat transfer by conduction is realized.  The capacity, by volume, of the fluid bed is 65 cubic feet.  The volume is important in determining adequate soil retention time in the calcine chamber.  Adequate retention time is required to assure uniform heating and exposure time for soil cleaning.  The nominal sizing of the fluid bed is based on a 50 minute retention time while processing 6000 pounds per hour @ 75 pounds per cubic feet.  The soil make-up, level of contaminants and moisture content will effect the process rate and ultimately the retention time.