Multi-Criteria Analysis of Technology that Ensure Environmental Safety in Waste Incineration

Abstract

The article discusses solutions for environmental safety of solid waste incineration technology. Methods of flue gases purification have been evaluated, and two directions of an air purification technology have been considered. The first direction is the precipitation method to remove fly ash, the second direction is the using physic-chemical treatment of toxic substances. Municipal solid waste is a multicomponent mixture, when it is burned, diverse group of substances with different physic-chemical properties produces into the exhaust gases: carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, fluorine and chlorine compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls, chlorophenols, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and dioxins. The fly ash that is produced in furnaces contains heavy metal particles. The chemical composition of emissions from waste incineration plants depends on the incineration technology, the morphological composition of waste, and the effective protection against exposure to hazardous chemicals. The authors propose a new approach to the selection of treatment equipment using multi-criteria analysis. Fabric filters, cyclones, scrubbers, electrostatic precipitators, wet cleaning devices were compared to eight criteria. The same criteria were used to compare the efficiency of absorption, adsorption, thermocatalytic treatment, selective catalytic reduction and thermal afterburning.