Emissions of Organic Micropollutants From Discontinuously Operated Municipal Waste Incinerators

Abstract

The emission of particles and organic micropollutants (PAH, PCDD and PCDF) was measured from three intermittently operated municipal waste incinerators of medium size. The mutagenicity of the stack gas samples were measured as well. The results show a good agreement between the PAH emitted and the mutagenicity in the stack gases, but none of these parameters correlate with the PCDD/PCDF content.

Comparing Non-Steady State Emissions under Start-Up and Shut-Down Operating Conditions with Steady State Emissions for Several Industrial Sectors: A Literature Review

“…Approximately 88% of the facilities (seven out of eight) demonstrated that the PCDD/F emissions were approximately 2.3-2727 times higher under start-up conditions than under normal conditions [30][31][32][33][34]37,39]. As for the PCDD/F emissions under shut-down conditions, one of the two facilities reported approximately 5.5-212 times higher emissions [30], while the other reported approximately 5%-50% lower emissions compared to normal operating conditions [35]. The increase in PCDD/F emissions during start-up and shut-down is likely due to incomplete combustion during these conditions [31][32][33]38,40].…”

“…[35,36,39] Eight facilities assessed the emission of polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) under start-up and normal operating conditions [30][31][32][33][34][35]37,39]. Two of these also assessed the PCDD/F emissions under shut-down conditions [30,35]. Approximately 88% of the facilities (seven out of eight) demonstrated that the PCDD/F emissions were approximately 2.3-2727 times higher under start-up conditions than under normal conditions [30][31][32][33][34]37,39].…”

“…The incinerators under consideration combusted various sources of refuse, including municipal solid, organic, laboratory, industrial, liquid, and medical waste. Nine of the ten facilities provided emissions data related to the start-up and normal operating conditions [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37]39], whereas only five provided data related to shut-down conditions [30,31,35,36,38]. Table 5 summarizes the emissions for each contaminant emitted in each of the facilities normalized with respect to the normal operating emissions.…”

“…Table 5 summarizes the emissions for each contaminant emitted in each of the facilities normalized with respect to the normal operating emissions. [35,36,39] Eight facilities assessed the emission of polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) under start-up and normal operating conditions [30][31][32][33][34][35]37,39]. Two of these also assessed the PCDD/F emissions under shut-down conditions [30,35].…”

“…Ten different facilities were investigated under this industrial sector [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39]. These included continuously-and intermittently-operated incinerators located in Japan, Taiwan, Germany, the United States, Norway and Sweden.…”