Asphalt material recycling system and method

Abstract

An asphalt roofing material recycling system and method is used to recycle new and used asphalt materials, such as asphalt shingles, rolled roofing and tar paper that may include granules, fibers or other particles. The asphalt material is broken up and separated and then provided to a recycling vessel. When the recycling vessel is operated in a cooled mode, dry ice may be added along with the asphalt material to be recycled. The dry ice removes any moisture present and super-cools the material making it brittle and easier to chip and break up. The recycle vessel includes a number of devices as well as at least one horizontal mixer element which stirs the material and makes sure all material is ground. The resulting course to fine powder can be sorted by screening and stored as power or compressed into bricks or briquettes for later use in making various products.

1 . A method for recycling asphalt based material, said method comprising the acts of:
 receiving an amount of asphalt based material to be recycled, said asphalt based material to be recycled including at least some amount of said asphalt based material that is larger in size than 6″×6″;   providing said received amount of asphalt based material to be recycled to a recycler device, said recycler device operating in one mode selected from the modes consisting of a heated mode and a cooled mode;   operating said recycler device containing said received amount of asphalt based material to be recycled in said one mode, said recycler device configured to provide recycled asphalt based material having a size smaller than 6″×6″;   sorting said recycled asphalt based material received from said recycler device by size of said recycled asphalt based material; and   storing said sorted recycled asphalt based material for later use.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said asphalt based material to be recycled includes asphalt based roofing material. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein said asphalt-based roofing material includes new, unused asphalt-based roofing material and previously used asphalt based roofing material. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein said asphalt based roofing material includes asphalt shingles and rolled roofing material. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein said asphalt based roofing material includes a top surface which is covered in granules. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said recycler device recycles said asphalt based material to a size no greater than 10 mesh. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said recycler device recycled said asphalt based material to a size between 10 mesh and 200 mesh. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said recycler device is operated in a cooled mode, and wherein said cooled mode is achieved by utilizing one of a cooling jacket surrounding said recycler device in which is circulated cooling fluid or the addition of dry ice to said recycler device in addition to said asphalt based material being recycled. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said act of sorting said recycled asphalt based material is accomplished utilizing a screen sorter. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said sorted and stored recycled asphalt based material is utilized in the making of one or more products selected from the group of products consisting of asphalt based roofing shingles, asphalt based rolled roofing, asphalt based road paving compositions and asphalt based paving crack filler compositions. 
     
     
         11 . A method for recycling asphalt based material, said method comprising the acts of:
 receiving an amount of asphalt based material to be recycled, said asphalt based material to be recycled including at least some amount of said asphalt based material that is larger in size than 6″×6″;   providing an said received amount of asphalt based material to be recycled to a recycler device;   operating said recycler device in a dry manner so as to provide recycled asphalt based material having a size smaller than 6″×6″;   sorting said recycled asphalt based material received from said recycler device by size of said recycled asphalt based material; and   storing said sorted recycled asphalt based material for later use.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein said act of sorting said recycled asphalt based material is accomplished utilizing a screen sorter. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein at least a portion of said sorted and stored recycled asphalt based material is utilized in the making of one or more products selected from the group of products consisting of asphalt based roofing shingles, asphalt based rolled roofing, asphalt based road paving compositions and asphalt based paving crack filler compositions. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein said recycled asphalt based material includes roofing material granules, and wherein said act of sorting said recycled asphalt based material received from said recycler device includes separating said granules from the remainder of said recycled asphalt based material. 
     
     
         15 . A method of manufacturing an asphalt based product utilizing a slurry including virgin asphalt and ground recycled asphalt based material, said method comprising the acts of:
 receiving an amount of asphalt based material to be recycled, said asphalt based material to be recycled including at least some amount of said asphalt based material that is larger in size than 6″×6″;   providing said received amount of asphalt based material to be recycled to a recycler device;   operating said recycler device in a manner so as to provide recycled asphalt based material having a size smaller than 6″×6″;   sorting said recycled asphalt based material received from said recycler device by size of said recycled asphalt based material;   storing said sorted recycled asphalt based material for later use;   adding at least one of virgin asphalt and flux asphalt to a heated slurry tank;   adding at least a portion of said sorted, recycled asphalt based material to said heated slurry tank containing said at least one of virgin asphalt and flux asphalt to create a slurry containing liquid asphalt and a suspension of sorted recycled asphalt based material; and   providing said heated slurry including said suspension of sorted recycled asphalt based material to a manufacturing process which utilizes the slurry in making an asphalt based material product.   
     
     
         16 . A method of making a roofing product comprising the acts of:
 forming a processed, asphalt slurry suspension comprising a ground, recycled asphalt based material component derived from recycled asphalt based materials and a virgin asphalt based component, wherein said ground, recycled asphalt based material component comprises particles of recycled asphalt based roofing materials which have been reduced in size to have an average particle size of between 70 and 200 mesh; and   utilizing said processed, asphalt slurry suspension in the manufacturing of a roofing product.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  wherein said virgin asphalt based component includes asphalt flux. 
     
     
         18 . A method of making an asphalt based material utilizing recycled, ground recycled asphalt based material, said method comprising the acts of:
 forming a processed, asphalt slurry suspension, said asphalt slurry suspension comprising:
 a ground, recycled asphalt based material component derived from recycled asphalt based materials; and 
 a virgin based asphalt component including virgin asphalt with or without asphalt flux, wherein said ground, recycled asphalt based material component comprises particles of recycled asphalt based roofing materials which have been reduced in size to have an average particle size of between 70 and 200 mesh; and 
   utilizing said processed, asphalt slurry suspension in the manufacture of an asphalt based product.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein said asphalt based product manufactured using said processed, asphalt slurry suspension includes one or more asphalt based products selected from the group of products consisting of asphalt based roofing shingles, asphalt based rolled roofing, asphalt based road paving compositions and asphalt based paving crack filler compositions. 
     
     
         20 . A method of making an asphalt based paving composition utilizing recycled, ground recycled asphalt based material, said method comprising the acts of:
 forming a processed, asphalt slurry suspension, said asphalt slurry suspension comprising:
 a ground, recycled asphalt based material component derived from recycled asphalt based materials; and 
 a virgin based asphalt component including virgin asphalt with or without asphalt flux, wherein said ground, recycled asphalt based material component comprises particles of recycled asphalt based roofing materials which have been reduced in size to have an average particle size of between 10 and 200 mesh; 
   providing and aggregate material; and   utilizing said processed, asphalt slurry suspension and said aggregate material in the manufacture of an asphalt based paving composition.