Method for cooling solid residues of a combustion process

1. A conveying device, comprising:

a conveyor belt with a conveying surface for conveying solid residues; and

means for cooling the solid residues comprising a coolant supply for introducing a gaseous coolant and a coolant evacuation for extracting at least part of the coolant heated by the solid residues, wherein:

the conveyor belt is essentially impermeable to the coolant,

the conveyor belt is an endless conveyor belt that is guided around at least two rollers and forms a loop with a conveying strand and a return strand, the loop together with laterally arranged side walls enclosing a space to which are assigned the coolant supply and the coolant evacuation,

the space between the conveying strand and the return strand is divided with a wall running essentially parallel to a plane of the conveying strand so as to form an interspace between the conveying strand and the wall, the coolant supply and the coolant evacuation being arranged in the interspace or being connected to the interspace, and

the coolant supply and the coolant evacuation are configured such that the coolant is in contact only with a side of the conveyor belt oriented away from the conveying surface.

2. The conveying device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein:

the coolant supply comprises coolant supply pipes that are connected, via a side wall, to the space below the conveying strand and via which the coolant can be introduced on the side of the conveyor belt oriented away from the conveying surface, and

the coolant evacuation comprises coolant evacuation pipes that are connected via a side wall to the space below the conveying strand and by means of which at least part of the coolant heated by contact with the conveyor belt is extracted.

3. The conveying device as claimed in claim 2 , wherein coolant supply nozzle pipes connected to the coolant supply pipes have nozzle pipe openings in their uppermost region.

4. The conveying device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein

the space between the conveying strand and the return strand is divided into at least two compartments in the conveying direction, in each case at least one valve for controlling quantity of the coolant to be introduced being (i) assigned to the coolant supply and/or evacuation assigned to the different compartments or (ii) connected to the different compartments.

5. The conveying device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the coolant supply comprises gas nozzles whose openings are arranged at least in part at a distance of less than 30 cm.

6. A waste combustion plant comprising a conveying device, the conveying device comprising:

a conveyor belt with a conveying surface for conveying solid residues; and

means for cooling the solid residues comprising a coolant supply for introducing a gaseous coolant and a coolant evacuation for extracting at least part of the coolant heated by the solid residues, wherein:

the conveyor belt is essentially impermeable to the coolant,

the conveyor belt is an endless conveyor belt that is guided around at least two rollers and forms a loop with a conveying strand and a return strand, the loop together with laterally arranged side walls enclosing a space to which are assigned the coolant supply and the coolant evacuation,

the space between the conveying strand and the return strand is divided with a wall running essentially parallel to a plane of the conveying strand so as to form an interspace between the conveying strand and the wall, the coolant supply and the coolant evacuation being arranged in the interspace or being connected to the interspace, and

the coolant supply and the coolant evacuation are configured such that the coolant is in contact only with a side of the conveyor belt oriented away from the conveying surface.

7. A method for cooling solid residues of a combustion process, the method comprising:

depositing the solid residues onto a conveying surface of a conveyor belt of a conveying device; and

conveying the solid residues in the direction of a solid residue outlet, wherein:

during the conveying heat is transferred from the solid residues to a gaseous coolant introduced by way of a coolant supply,

the conveyor belt is acted upon by the coolant only on its side oriented away from the conveying surface,

the conveyor belt is essentially impermeable to the coolant,

the conveyor belt is an endless conveyor belt that is guided around at least two rollers and forms a loop with a conveying strand and a return strand, the loop together with laterally arranged side walls enclosing a space to which are assigned the coolant supply and a coolant evacuation,

the space between the conveying strand and the return strand is divided with a wall running essentially parallel to a plane of the conveying strand so as to form an interspace between the conveying strand and the wall, the coolant supply and the coolant evacuation being arranged in the interspace or being connected to the interspace, and

at least part of the coolant heated by contact with the conveyor belt is extracted on the side oriented away from the conveying surface by way of the coolant evacuation.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the temperature of the solid residues deposited onto the conveying surface is in a range from 200° C. to 500° C.

9. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the solid residues are cooled, while being conveyed to the solid residue outlet, to below 150° C.

10. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the heated coolant is used as a heating medium after extraction.

11. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the coolant is air.

12. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein, for cooling the solid residues, the coolant is simply circulated in a space that is separate from the space in which the solid residues are arranged.

13. The method as claimed in claim 7 , wherein the conveyor belt is acted upon by the coolant via gas nozzle openings that are arranged, at least in part, at a distance of less than 30 cm.