[1] The steam pressure in the vessel is maintained up to 6 bars (gauge) for a period of up to 45 minutes to allow the process to fully 'cook' the waste.
When depressurized, the autoclave door is opened, and by rotating the drum the 'cooked' material can be discharged and separated by a series of screens and recovery systems.
With this process, waste enters, and the product leaves the autoclave without the loss of temperature or pressure in the vessel.
After the waste is loaded onto the initial conveyor, the entire process is automated, and it does not require human intervention to clean the inside of the vessel.
The fibers can be fed into anaerobic digesters to reduce the biodegradability of the waste and to produce biogas.
The heat, steam and rotating action of the autoclave vessel strip off labels and glues from food cans leaving a very high quality ferrous/non-ferrous stream for recycling.