NL8600180A - Mould and compost handling system - compresses set quantities into blocks and packs in sheet material - Google Patents

Abstract

The mould and compost handling method consists in separating a set quantity from the heap, after which this is compressed into a block and packed on all sides inside sheet material. Before compression, it can be dried to a moisture content of 11 to 12%, while the sheet used can be mositure-resistant. A current of air at roughly 900 deg.C. can be used for the drying, and a shrinking sheet can be used for packing. It can also be mixed with artificial fertiliser before compression.

Description

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Treatment of garden or topsoil

The invention relates to a method of treatment of garden or topsoil in order to facilitate transport and storage thereof.

It is customary to store and transport garden or topsoil in bags in bulk and transported, the greatest disadvantage of which is the difficult handling of the bags. These are not only heavy but also difficult to grasp due to the loose shape.

The object of the invention is to eliminate the above objection and to that end provide a method of treatment which is distinguished by the following steps: - separating a certain amount of soil, - compressing that amount into a block and, - packaging the block on all sides. in a foil,

Thanks to the block shape *, manageability has been considerably simplified, because the blocks can be stacked easily and have been reduced to a relatively small size due to the high compaction, so that transport for private persons is also easier.

According to a further improvement of the method of treatment, before compressing the amount of soil, the soil is first dried until it has a moisture content of approximately 11%, using moisture-resistant foil for packaging.

Thanks to this step, the water component in the topsoil is reduced to a very small part thereof, so that the block weight is considerably reduced. This increases the handling of the block.

A hot air stream with a temperature of approximately 900 ° C is preferably used for drying.

The cohesion of the earth in the pressed block can be - -s I - Λ c; ··, _ "j -2- S" *, \ during transport and storage are ensured by using the shrink wrap as packaging material.

This foil exerts an all-round pressure on the material of the block and keeps it in shape.

The aforementioned method of treatment can be preceded by disinfecting or decontaminating the amount of soil, at least before compression. enrich with enrichment materials, such as fertilizers.

The invention is further elucidated in the figure description below of a schematic embodiment of the method of treatment.

In the drawing, item a shows a quantity of topsoil in bulk form. This topsoil can be of any composition, for example compost, peat dust or mixtures thereof. The soil is then dried at post b by means of a rotating drum 1, which is rotatably driven about the axis A-A and into which the topsoil is poured by means of a conveyor belt 2. A hot air flow indicated by the arrow P1 is passed through the drum in the axis direction 20 and exhausted via a chimney 3. The drum 1 can be provided with flights on the inside in order to achieve a good mixing of the hot air of, for example, 900 ° C with the earth. The soil is discharged at the bottom right side of the drum 1 into a conveyor trough 4, which leads to a pressing device 5, see item c. The moisture content of the soil thus dried is preferably reduced to 11%.

The soil thus dried can then be compacted in a pressing device 5, which pressing device can be of any shape. The pressing device is shown here as a cylinder 6 with rectangular cross section and chamfered sides, see below, in which cylinder 6 a * plunger 7 is driven to and fro. A batchwise loading of the cylinder 6 takes place in each case where the plunger 7 is in the cylinder in the most left-slid position. After the cylinder 7 has been moved to the right, the earth can be compacted into a block, which can be seen in perspective under item d. The block is given a certain one

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The thickness of the cylinder has the cross-sectional shape of the cylinder 6 in view. Then the block B can be packaged in a foil 8, which can for instance be a shrink foil of moisture-resistant material.

It will be clear from the above description that the obtained block B is very easy to handle for transport and storage. Thanks to the shrink film, its shape is retained for a long time, while attracting moisture is virtually impossible thanks to the moisture-resistant film.

For use for cultivation purposes, only the foil needs to be removed, the block placed in, for example, a bucket, a prescribed amount of water added to the block, so that the soil again shows the final moisture and looseness for efficient use.

It has been established experimentally that adding 2 liters of water to a block with a filling weight of 0.5 kg of dry matter, which block has a size of length 180, width 100, thickness 40 mm, requires a time of between 2 and 6 hours. to regain soil with a volume of 5 liters and with the original properties.

The invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment.

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Claims (7)

1. Method of treatment of garden or topsoil in order to facilitate transport and storage thereof, characterized by: - separating a certain quantity of soil, - compressing that quantity into a block and, - packaging the block on all sides in a foil, 2. A method according to claim 2, characterized in that, before compressing the amount of soil, the soil is dried to a moisture content of 11 to 12%, whereby for. packaging a moistureproof film is used. 3. A method according to claim 2, characterized in that a hot air flow of approximately 900 ° C is used for drying. Method according to claims 1-3, characterized in that a shrink film is used as packaging material. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the amount of soil is treated with a disinfectant at least before compression. 6. A method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, before the amount of soil is compressed, the amount is mixed with enrichment materials, such as fertilizer. Block obtained according to the method of any of the preceding claims.