There are many problems in collection of municipal solid waste by conventional vehicles transportation system such as noise from collecting vehicles, bad odor and scattered residue. Kobe Steel's waste pneumatic transportation system can eliminate these problems by collecting waste by means of air flow through underground pipe line, like vacuum cleaner.

[System construction]

Kobe Steel's waste pneumatic transportation system is consisted of waste disposal posts, storages, pipe lines, separators with dust collectors, blowers, de-odorizers and control system. There are two types of disposal posts, one is for dust suit type installed in tall buildings and the other is for floor type installed at parks or lower buildings. In order to reject unsuited waste for this transportation system, a device to restrict of waste volume is installed in the waste disposal posts. Waste disposed at the posts is stored once in the storage. The capacity of the storage is selected by the predicted disposal volume of waste. The waste is transported to the collection center through pipe line by means of vacuum operation. At the collection center, the waste is exhausted from the pipe line by the separator with dust collector. The waste is then sent to the adjacent incineration plant directly or after compaction.

Table 1 Specification

[Features]

1. Complete closed and sanitary system.
2. Easy operation can be provided by computer control system.
3. Waste can be disposed 24 hours per day.
4. Waste collecting vehicle can be eliminated from the town.
5. Recycle can be realized by the addition of sorting system.
6. Safety design.

Fig1 System flow of waste pneumatic transportation system