Incineration and Energy

Recovery

Dr. R. Gandhimathi, Ph.D.

Professor
Department of Civil Engineering
National Institute of Technology
Tiruchirappalli – 620 015.
E-Mail : [email protected]

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Learning objectives
• After completing this Unit, you should be able to:
– discuss incineration processes;
– list the objectives of incineration;
– plan an incineration facility;
– explain various incineration technologies;
– identify emissions from incinerators and their control;
– estimate the energy generation potential of wastes;
– assess the environmental impacts of incineration.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Incineration processes
• Incineration is a chemical reaction in which carbon,
hydrogen and other elements in the waste combine with
oxygen in the combustion zone, and generate heat.
• Usually, excess air is supplied to the incinerator to
ensure complete mixing and combustion.
• The principal gas products of combustion are carbon
dioxide, carbon monoxide, water, oxygen, and oxides of
nitrogen.
• Excess air is also added to the incinerator to regulate
operating temperature and control emissions.
• Excess air requirements will differ with moisture content
of waste, heating values, and the type of combustion
technology employed.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Many incinerators are designed to operate in the
combustion zone of 900°C - 1100°C.
• This temperature is selected to ensure good combustion,
complete elimination of odours, and protection of the
walls of the incinerator.
• Incinerator systems are designed to maximise waste
burn out and heat output while minimising emissions by
balancing the oxygen (air) and the three “T”s, i.e., time,
temperature, and turbulence.
• The incineration facility along with combustion of waste
emits air pollutants (fine particulate and toxic gases),
which is an environmental concern and therefore their
control is necessary.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• The emission of combustible, carbon-containing pollutants
can be controlled by optimising the combustion process (EPA
1989 and 1995).
• Oxides of nitrogen and sulphur and other gaseous pollutants
have not been a problem because of their relatively small
concentration.
• Other concerns related to incineration include the disposal of
the liquid wastes from floor drainage, quench water, and
scrubber effluents and the problem of ash disposal in landfills
because of heavy metal residues.
• The evolution of solid waste combustion has led to higher
temperatures both to destroy toxic compounds and to
increase the opportunity to utilize the waste as an energy
source by producing steam.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Incineration
• Incineration is an engineering process that uses thermal
decomposition in a highly oxidative environment to
decompose organic compounds into simple compounds,
predominantly carbon dioxide and water.
• Subject to chemical equilibrium, the following general
reactions will occur during incineration of waste
materials:
– All hydrogen and carbon element convert to H2O and CO2
respectively
– All chlorine ( halogen ) converts to hydrogen chloride ( HCl)
– Sulphur is converted to sulphur dioxide, SO2
– Alkali metals converts to hydroxide salt and
– Non alkali metals convert to oxides.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Incineration: Advantages
• The volume / weight of the waste is reduced.
• Waste reduction is immediate it does not require long
term residence time as in a landfill.
• Can be incinerated onsite.
• Requires a relatively small disposal area.
• Hazardous materials can be completely destroyed.
• The ash residue is sterile.
• A relatively small land area is needed for the incinerator
compared to landfills.
• Energy can usually be economically recovered from the
incineration process.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Disadvantages

• The capital cost is high

• Skilled operators are required
• Not all materials are incinerable
• Some materials require supplemental fuel

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Combustion of waste material
• The objective of incineration is to combust solid wastes to
reduce their volume to about one-tenth, without producing
offensive gases and ashes (Phelps et al., 1995).
• Table shows the major elements that constitute solid
wastes and the end products of combustion.

Elements End Products (Gases)

Carbon (C) Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Hydrogen (H) Water (H2O)
Oxygen (O) Combustion
Process
Nitrogen (N) Nitrogen (N2)
Sulphur dioxide (SO2),
Sulphur (S) other gaseous
compounds and ash

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

Data on Ultimate Analysis of the
Combustible Component
Percent by Weight (dry basis)

Component Carbon Hydrogen Oxygen Nitrogen Sulphur Ash

Food waste 48.0 6.4 37.6 2.6 0.4 5.0

Paper 43.5 6.0 44.0 0.3 0.2 6.0
Cardboard 44.0 5.9 44.6 0.3 0.2 6.0
Plastic 60.0 7.2 22.8 -- -- 10.0
Textile 55.0 6.6 31.2 4.6 0.15 2.5
Rubber 78.0 10.0 -- 2.0 -- 10.0
Leather 60.0 8.0 11.6 10.0 0.4 10.0
Garden
47.8 6.0 38.0 3.4 0.3 4.5
trimmings
Wood 49.5 6.0 42.7 0.2 0.1 1
Dirt, ash, brick,
26.3 3.0 2.0 0.5 0.2 68.0
etc

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

  BTU   1 
Energy Value   = 145.4C + 620 H − O  + 41S
 lb   8 

• where C, H, O, and S are in percent by weight

(dry basis) and can be converted to KJ/kg by:

BTU
* 2.36 = KJ / Kg
lb

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Incineration of solid waste fulfils the
following objectives
• Volume reduction
– Depending on its composition, incineration of solid
waste reduces the volume of solid waste to be
disposed off by an average of 90%.
– The weight of the solid waste to be dealt with is
reduced by 70-75%.
– This has both environmental and economic
advantages since there is less demand for final
disposal to landfill, as well as reduced costs and
environmental burdens due to transport, if a distant
landfill is used.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Stabilisation of waste
– Incinerator output (ash) is considerably more
inert than incinerator input (solid waste),
mainly due to the oxidation of the organic
components of the waste stream.
– This leads to reduction of landfill
management problems (since the organic
fraction is responsible for landfill gas
production) and the organic compounds
present in landfill leachate.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Recovery of energy from waste (EFW)
– This represents a valorisation method, rather than just a
pre-treatment of waste prior to disposal.
– Energy recovered from burning waste is used to generate
steam for use in on-site electricity generation or export to
local factories or district heating schemes.
– Combined heat and power plants increase the efficiency of
energy recovery by producing electricity as well as utilising
the residual heat.
– Solid waste incineration can replace the use of fossil fuels
for energy generation.
– As a large part of the energy content of solid waste comes
from truly renewable resources (biomass), there should be
a lower overall net carbon dioxide production than from
burning fossil fuels, since carbon dioxide is absorbed in
the initial growing phase of the biomass.
Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli
• Sterilisation of waste
– This is of primary importance in the incineration of
clinical (biomedical) waste; incineration of solid waste
will also ensure destruction of pathogens prior to final
disposal in a landfill.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Incineration technologies
• Some of the incineration technologies covered in this Section
are mass burning system, refuse derived fuel system,
modular incineration and fluidised bed incineration.
• The two most widely used and technically proven incineration
technologies are mass-burning incineration and modular
incineration.
• Fluidised-bed incineration has been employed to a lesser
extent, although its use has been expanding and experience
with this relatively new technology has increased.
• Refuse-derived fuel production and incineration has also been
used, with limited success.
• Some facilities have been used in conjunction with pyrolysis,
gasification, and other related processes that convert solid
waste to gaseous, liquid, or solid fuel through thermal
processing (UNEP 1996).

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Mass burning system
• Mass-burning systems are the predominant form of MSW
incineration.
• A mass-burn facility typically consists of a reciprocating grate
combustion system and a refractory-lined, water walled, and steam
generator.
• Mass-burn systems generally consist of either two or three
incineration units ranging in capacity from 50 to 1,000 tonnes per
day; thus, facility capacity ranges from about 100 to 3,000 tonnes
per day.
• These facilities can accept refuse that has undergone little
preprocessing other than the removal of oversized items.
• Although this versatility makes mass burn facilities convenient and
flexible, local programme to separate household hazardous wastes
(e.g., cleaners and pesticides) and recover certain materials (e.g.,
iron scrap) is necessary to help ensure environmentally viable
incineration and resource conservation.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Because of the larger facility size, the incineration unit is
specially designed to efficiently combust the waste to
recover greater quantities of steam or electricity for
revenue.
• To achieve this greater combustion and heat recovery
efficiency, the larger field-erected incinerators are
usually in-line furnaces with a grate system.
• The steam generator generally consists of refractory-
coated water wall systems with walls comprised of tubes
through which water circulates to absorb the heat of
combustion.
• In a water wall system, the boiler is an integral part of the
system wall, rather than a separate unit as is in a
refractory system.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• The waste intake area usually includes a tipping floor,
pit, crane, and sometimes conveyors.
• Trucks enter the tipping floor and tip their wastes either
onto the floor itself, or directly into the pit.
• When wastes are tipped onto the floor, a front-end
loader or a bulldozer is used to push them into the pit or
onto a conveyor.
• From a feed chute, MSW is continuously fed to a grate
system, which moves the waste through a combustion
chamber using a tumbling motion.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• A traveling or reciprocating grate may follow rotary
combustors to further complete combustion as shown in
Figure.
• At least two combustor units are included to provide a
level of redundancy and to allow waste processing at a
reduced rate during periods of scheduled and
unscheduled maintenance.
• Mass-burn facilities today generate a higher quality
steam (i.e., pressure and temperature), which is then
passed through a turbine generator to produce electricity
or through an extraction turbine to generate electricity as
well as provide process steam for heating or other
purposes.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

Typical Mass-Burn Facility

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Refuse derived fuel (RDF)
system
• Refuse-derived fuel (RDF) refers to solid waste in any form
that is used as fuel.
• The term RDF, however, is commonly used to refer to solid
waste that has been mechanically processed to produce a
storable, transportable, and more homogeneous fuel for
combustion.
• RDF systems have two basic components: RDF production
and RDF incineration.
• RDF production facilities make RDF in various forms
through material separation, size reduction, and pelletising.
• Although RDF processing has the advantage of removing
recyclables and contaminants from the combustion stream,
on an average, capital costs per tonne for incineration units
that use RDF are higher than for other incineration options.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• RDF production plants like mass burn incinerators; typically have
an indoor tipping floor.
• Instead of being pushed onto a pit, the waste in an RDF plant is
typically fed onto a conveyor, which is either below grade or
hopper fed.
• In some plants, the loader doing the feeding will separate
corrugated and bulky items, like carpets. Once on the conveyor,
the waste travels through a number of processing stages, usually
beginning with magnetic separation.
• The processing steps are tailored to the desired products, and
typically include one or more screening stages, using trommel or
vibrating screens, shredding or hammer milling of waste with
additional screening steps, pelletising or baling of burnable
wastes; and depending on the local recycling markets and the
design of the facility, may include a manual separation line.
• A typical RDF facility scheme is shown in Figure.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

Typical Simplified RDF Facility

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• There are two primary types of systems in operation: the
shred-and-burn systems with minimal processing and
removal of non-combustibles, and simplified process
systems that remove a significant portion of the non-
combustibles.
• Depending on the type of combustor to be used, a
significant degree of separation can be achieved to
produce a high-quality RDF (i.e., low ash), which
typically results in the loss of a higher percentage of
combustibles when compared to systems that can
produce a low-quality fuel (i.e., slightly higher ash
content) for firing in a specially designed combustor.
These types of systems recover over 95 percent of the
combustibles in the fuel fraction.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Shred and burn systems
– Shred and burn systems are the simplest form of RDF
production.
– The process system typically consists of shredding
the municipal solid waste to the desired particle size
and magnetic removal of ferrous metal, with the
remaining portion delivered to the combustor.
– There is no attempt to remove other non-combustible
materials in the municipal solid waste before
combustion.
– The municipal solid waste is shredded to a particle
size that allows effective feeding to the combustor.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Simplified process systems
– A simplified process system involves processing the
municipal solid waste to produce an RDF with a
significant portion of the non-combustibles removed
before combustion.
– The municipal solid waste process removes more
than 85 percent of the ferrous metals, a significant
percentage of the remaining non-combustible (i.e.,
glass, nonferrous metals, dirt, sand, etc.), and shreds
the material to a nominal particle top size of 10 to 15
cm to allow effective firing in the combustion unit.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Modular incineration
• Modular incinerator units are usually prefabricated units
with relatively small capacities between 5 and 120
tonnes of solid waste per day.
• Typical facilities have between one and four units with a
total plant capacity of about 15 to 400 tonnes per day.
• The majority of modular units produce steam as the sole
energy product.
• Due to their small capacity, modular incinerators are
generally used in small communities or for commercial
and industrial operations.
• Their prefabricated design gives modular facilities the
advantage of shorter construction time.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Modular combustion systems are usually factory-
assembled units consisting of a refractory-lined furnace
and a waste heat boiler.
• Both units can be pre assembled and shipped to the
construction site, which minimizes field installation time
and cost.
• Adding modules, or units, installed in parallel can
increase facility capacity.
• For example, a 200 tonne-per-day facility may consist of
four units, 50-tonne-per-day consists of two units, and
100 tonne-per-day consists of one unit.
• The number of units may depend on the fluctuation of
waste generation for the service area and the anticipated
maintenance cycle of the units.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Modular incinerators employ a different process than
mass-burn incinerators, typically involving two
combustion chambers and combustion is typically
achieved in two stages.
• The first stage may be operated in a condition in which
there is less than the theoretical amount of air necessary
for complete combustion.
• The controlled air condition creates volatile gases, which
are fed into the secondary chamber, mixed with
additional combustion air, and under controlled
conditions, completely burned.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Combustion temperatures in the secondary chamber are
regulated by controlling the air supply, and when
necessary, through the use of an auxiliary fuel.
• The hot combustion gases then pass through a waste
heat boiler to produce steam for electrical generation or
for heating purposes.
• The combustion gases and products are processed
through air emission control equipment to meet the
required emission standards.
• In general, modular incineration systems are a suitable
alternative and may, for smaller-sized facilities, be more
cost-effective than other incinerators.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Fluidised bed incineration
• Fluidised-bed incineration of MSW is typically medium
scale, with processing capacity from 50 to 150 tonnes
per day.
• In this system, a bed of limestone or sand that can
withstand high temperatures, fed by an air distribution
system, replaces the grate.
• The heating of the bed and increase in the air velocities
cause the bed to bubble, which gives rise to the term
‘fluidised’.
• There are two types of fluidised-bed technologies: viz.,
bubbling bed and circulating bed.
• The differences are reflected in the relationship between
air flow and bed material, and have implications on the
type of wastes that can be burned, as well as the heat
transfer to the energy recovery system.
Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli
Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli
• Unlike mass-burn incinerators, fluidised-bed incinerators
require front-end pre-processing, also called fuel preparation.
• They are generally associated with source separation
because glass and metals do not fare well in these systems
and also it can successfully burn wastes of widely varying
moisture and heat content, so that the inclusion of paper and
wood, which are both recyclable and burnable, is not a crucial
factor in their operation (and thus paper can be extracted for
higher-value recycling).
• Fluidised-bed systems are more consistent in their operation
than mass burn and can be controlled more effectively to
achieve higher energy conversion efficiency, less residual
ash, and lower air emissions.
• In general, however, these systems appear to operate
efficiently on smaller scales than mass-burn incinerators,
which may make them attractive in some situations.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Energy recovery
• Most of the MSW incineration currently practice energy
recovery in the form of steam, which is used either to drive a
turbine to generate electricity or directly for heating.
• In the past, it was common to simply burn MSW in
incinerators to reduce its volume and weight, but energy
recovery has become more prevalent (EPA 1989 and 1995).
• In waste-to-energy (WTE) plants, heat from the burning waste
is absorbed by water in the wall of the furnace chamber, or in
separate boilers.
• Water when heated to the boiling point changes to steam. At
this point, either the steam is used for heating, or it is used to
turn turbines to generate electricity.
• The amount of energy recovered from waste is a function of
the amount of waste combusted, energy value of the waste
stream, and the efficiency of the combustion process (UNEP
1996).

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• The three basic types of waste-to-energy incineration
are:
• Generation of electricity: Electricity is the most
common form of energy produced and sold from WTE
facilities constructed today. By directing the steam
produced from a WTE system through a turbine
generator, electricity can be produced and sold.
• A process flow diagram is shown in Figure.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Of the electricity produced in incineration facilities, about
one-fifth is used at the facility for general operations.
• The remaining electricity is sold to public and private
utilities or nearby industries.
• In many countries, utilities provide a stable market for
electricity generated from incinerators.
• The availability of purchasers and rates for electricity
sales will, however, vary by region.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

Incinerator and Electrical
Generation System

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Steam generation
– Steam is used widely in a variety of industrial applications.
– Steam generated in incineration facilities can also be used
directly by a customer for manufacturing operations.
– Steam generated in an incinerator is supplied to a
customer through a steam line, and a separate line
sometimes returns the condensed steam.
– It can be used to drive machinery such as compressors,
for space heating and generating electricity.
– Industrial plants, dairies, cheese plants, public utilities,
paper mills, tanneries, breweries, public buildings, and
many other businesses use steam for heating and air
conditioning.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Co-generation
– Combined production of steam and electricity is referred to as
co-generation and can occur in two ways.
– If the energy customer requires steam conditions (pressure and
temperature) that are less than the incineration plant’s design
specifications, a turbine-generator is used to produce electricity
and thus reduce steam conditions to appropriate levels for the
customer.
– If the steam purchaser cannot accept all the steam produced by
the facility, the excess can be converted to electricity.
– In co-generation, high-pressure steam is used first to generate
electricity; the steam leaving the turbine is then used to serve the
steam users.
– Co-generation as shown in Figure 4 provides greater overall
energy efficiency, even though the output of the major energy
product, whether electricity or steam, may be less than that
generated by producing one type of energy alone.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Co-generation System for
Producing Electricity and Steam

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Air emissions and its control
• The majority of modern incinerators produce less
particulate and gaseous pollutants than their
predecessors.
• Emissions from incinerators are controlled by a
combination of measures that use both the pollution
prevention approach and various control equipments.
• The operation of the combustion process plays an
important role in the formation of pollutants, which are
carbon monoxide, NOx (oxides of nitrogen),
hydrocarbons, and other volatile organic compounds.
• It also produces gaseous stream containing dust, acid
gases (HCl, SOx, HF), heavy metals, and traces of
dioxins (McDougall, et al., 2001).

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Gaseous pollutants
• Various gaseous pollutants formed due to
incineration processes are:
– Carbon dioxide (CO2): It is one of the main products
of incineration.
– The other main product is water.
– At low concentrations, CO2 has no short-term toxic or
irritating effect as it is abundant in the atmosphere
and necessary for plant life and is not generally
considered as a pollutant.
– Nevertheless, due to the high increase in global
concentration of CO2 it has been recognised as one
of the gases responsible for global warming.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Carbon monoxide (CO):
– It is formed by the incomplete combustion of carbon
due to the lack of oxygen.
– This gas is toxic as it reacts with the haemoglobin in
the blood causing a decrease of available oxygen to
the organisms.
– This lack of oxygen produces headache, nausea,
suffocation, and eventually death.
– Carbon monoxide in the flue gas is used to monitor
the incomplete combustion of the other emissions,
such as unburnt hydrocarbons and provide
information on the performance of the incinerator.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Sulphur oxides (SOx)
– The emission of SOx is a direct result of the oxidation
of sulphur present in solid waste, but other conditions
such as the type of incinerator used and its operating
conditions also influence its production.
– Approximately 90% of SOx emissions are SO2 and
10% as SO3.
– In the atmosphere, most of the SO2 is transformed
into SO3, which leads to the production of H2SO3
(sulphurous acid) and H2SO4 (sulphuric acid),
increasing the acidity of rain.
– At high concentrations, it causes eye, nose and throat
irritation, and other respiratory problems.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Nitrogen oxides (NOx)
– It is predominantly formed during the incineration process.
However, they oxidise to NO2 in the atmosphere.
– NOx is formed from two main sources: thermal NOx and fuel
NOx.
– In thermal formation, the oxygen and nitrogen react in the air.
– Fuel NOx is formed during the reactions between oxygen and
nitrogen in the fuel.
– Nitrogen oxides are important as they participate in several
processes in atmospheric chemistry.
– They are precursors of the formation of ozone (O3) and peroxy
acetyl nitrate (PAN).
– They are photochemical oxidants, which are responsible for
smog formation and cause acid rain.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Particulates
– It is formed during the combustion process by several
mechanisms.
– The turbulence in the combustion chambers may
carry some ash into the exhaust flow.
– Other inorganic materials present in the waste
volatilise at combustion temperature and later
condense downstream to form particles or deposits
on ash particles.
– The main component of fly ash is chemically inert
silica; but it may also contain toxic metal and organic
substances.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Hydrochloric acid (HCl)
– Hydrochloric acid results from the high concentration
of chlorine containing materials (some type of plastics
like polyvinyl chloride) in solid waste.
– Chlorine easily dissolves in water to form HCl.
– Its presence in the gaseous state may increase the
acidity of local rain, ground water, which can damage
exposed, and unprotected metal surfaces, erode
buildings, and may affect the mobilisation of heavy
metals in soil.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Hydrogen fluoride (HF)
– Hydrogen fluoride is more toxic and corrosive than HCl although
its presence in the emissions from solid waste incinerators
occurs in much smaller quantities.
– It is formed due to the presence of trace amount of fluorine in the
waste.
• Heavy metals (Hg, Cd, Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni, Cr)
– Solid waste contains heavy metals and metallic compounds in
the combustible and incombustible fractions.
– During the incineration process, metals may vaporise directly or
form oxides or chlorides at high temperature in the combustion
zone.
– They condensate over other particles and leave the incineration
process in the flue gas.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Dioxins and furans
– Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD) and
polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDF) have been
detected in the emissions from solid waste
incinerators.
– Dioxins can be formed in all combustion processes
where organic carbon, oxygen, and chlorine are
present although the processes by which they are
formed during incineration are not completely
understood.
– The concern over dioxins and furans has increased
after a number of animal studies have shown that for
some species they are carcinogenic and highly toxic
even at very low levels of exposure.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Gas-cleaning equipments
• The technologies employed to carry out the
necessary flue gas cleaning include:
• Electrostatic precipitators (ESP)
– These are used for particle control.
– ESP use electric forces to move the particle flowing
out of the gas stream on to the collector electrodes.
– The particles get a negative charge when they pass
through an ionised field.
– The electric field that forces the charged particles to
the walls comes from discharged electrodes
maintained at high voltage in the centre of the flow
lane.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli
Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli
• Fabric filters
– In fabric filtration, the gas flows through a number of
filter bags placed in parallel, leaving the dust captured
by the fabric.
– Extended operation of fabric filters requires periodic
cleaning of the cloth surface.
– After a new fabric goes through a number of cycles of
use and cleaning, it forms a residual cake of dust that
becomes the filter medium, which is responsible for
highly efficient filtering of small particles that
characterises fabric filter.
– They are widely accepted for controlling particulate
matter.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli
• Scrubbers
– Scrubbers are used to control particulate matter and acid gases
leaving the incinerator.
– Particulates and gases are removed from the gas stream mainly
by absorption and adsorption.
– The particles are moved to the vicinity of the water droplets and
collide with each other.
– The particles adhere to the liquid media and precipitated to the
bottom of the unit containing the dust particle from the gas
phase. In addition to removing entrapped particulate matter,
scrubbers can also remove gases by absorption and adsorption.
– It can remove particles of size 0.1 to 200m efficiently.
– The various types of scrubbers can be dry, semi dry or wet,
depending on the composition of flue gas.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

– Scrubbing is a physical process whereby particulates,
vapors, and gases are controlled by either passing a
gas stream through a liquid solution or spraying a
liquid into a gas stream.
– Water is the most commonly used absorbent liquid.
– As the gas stream contacts the liquid, the liquid
absorbs the pollutants, in much the same way that
rain droplets wash away strong odors on hot summer
days.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Environmental concerns
• Water pollution
– Wastewater in an incineration facility can be generated in
various forms.
– These include tipping floor runoff system wash water, ash
quench water, and water from pollution control systems.
– These systems also deal with normal problems experienced by
all large industrial facilities, including sanitary wastewater
disposal and surface-water runoff.
– For most incineration facilities, wastewater can be recycled in a
closed-loop system.
– In these systems, water from floor drains, ash dewatering, water
softener recharge, and other process wastewaters are collected
and stored in a tank.
– This water is then reused for ash quenching. Sanitary
wastewater can be directed to municipal sewer systems.
– In some cases, regulatory authorities may require that the waste
stream be pretreated before discharge.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Land retained pollution
– Land-retained pollutants originate as stack or fugitive
emissions and are of increasing concern.
– Bioaccumulation and subsequent ingestion from food
is an indirect exposure route resulting from land-
retained emissions.
– To provide better understanding of land-retained
pollutants, it may be desirable to establish baseline
contaminant levels before incineration plant
construction so changes in those levels throughout
the plant’s operating lifetime can be monitored.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Residue disposal
– An incineration facility and its emission control system
produce a variety of residues such as large quantity
of bottom ash, the unburned and not burnable
materials discharged from the incinerator at the end
of the burning cycle.
– The process also produces a lighter emission known
as fly ash.
– Fly ash consists of products in particulate form which
are produced either as a result of the chemical
decomposition of burnable materials or are unburned
(or partially burned) materials drawn upward by
thermal air currents in the incinerator and trapped in
pollution control equipment.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Fly ash normally comprises only a small proportion of the total
volume of residue from an incineration facility; ranging from
10 to 20 percent of the total ash. Constituents in both ash and
scrubber product vary, depending on the materials burned.
• In systems burning a homogeneous fuel such as coal, oil, or
tires, the level of pollutants in residues may be relatively
constant.
• Systems burning a more heterogeneous mixture, such as
municipal, industrial, or medical waste, may experience wide
swings in the chemical composition of residues.
• The major constituents of concern in municipal waste
combustion ash are heavy metals, particularly lead, cadmium,
and mercury.
• These metals may impact human health and the environment
if improperly handled, stored, transported, disposed or
reused.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Noise pollution
– Truck traffic is the greatest source of noise pollution in
incineration plant operations.
– Well-maintained and responsibly operated trucks will help
minimise this problem.
– Local ordinances may restrict truck traffic to certain hours of the
day and to specified truck corridors.
– Under these conditions, noise pollution should not be a
significant factor.
– Noise resulting from plant operations and air handling fans
associated with the combustion and emission control equipment
is also a potential problem.
– Noise levels are likely to be the highest in front of waste tipping
floor doors, ash floor doors, and the vicinity of air emission
stacks.
– Walls, fences, trees, and landscaped earthen barriers can serve
to reduce noise levels.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

• Aesthetic Impact
– Negative aesthetic impacts can be prevented or minimised by proper
site landscaping and building design.
– Such impacts are much less problematic if the facility is sited in an
industrial area and not adjacent to residential or commercial districts.
– Local zoning ordinances may ensure that aesthetic impacts are
minimised.
– Keeping the process building at negative pressure can prevent
undesirable odours from escaping outside of the building.
– Using internal air for combustion in the plant processes will destroy
most odours.
– Visible steam or vapour plumes can be emitted by some facilities.
Smoke resulting from improper conditions in the combustion chamber
can also be problematic.
– Air emission stacks and cooling towers may also be unappealing
anomalies in the skyline of some areas.
– If external lights on buildings prove objectionable to neighbours,
perimeter lights (on stands) directed toward the plant may be preferable.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Incinerators

• Categorized according to nature of waste.

• But, more than one type can be burned in a unit
• Most difficult to design and operate, due to the nature of
the waste, wide composition and characteristics
• Material handling,firing, removal of residue are critical

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Types of incinerators

• Open burning
• Single chamber incinerator
• Open-pit incinerator
• Multiple chamber incinerator
• Rotary kiln incinerator

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Open burning

• Oldest technique
• consists of placing or piling waste on ground, no
combustion equipment
• results in excessive smoking, high particulate emission
and it presents fire hazards
• utilized for disposing of high-energy explosives
(dynamite or TNT)

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Open pit incinerators

Used for controlled incineration of explosive wastes

Closely spaced nozzles provide high velocity air jets
Resulting in high turbulence, temperature and low smoke
and particulate emissions.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

Liquid Injection Combustion
Chamber

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Single chamber incinerator
Gives rise to Smoking and excessive pollution emission and so
pollution standards are not met

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Multiple chamber incinerators

• Complete burn out of combustion products

• Primary chamber is for combustion of solid
waste
• Secondary chamber provides residence
time, supplementary fuel for the further
combustion of unburnt gas and soot

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

In line multiple chamber incinerator

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

Multiple chamber: retort incinerator

Secondary chamber temperature=760 oC

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

Multiple Chamber In-line incinerator

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

Fixed-Hearth combustion Chamber

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

Rotary Kiln / afterburner combustion
chamber

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

Rotary Kiln incinerators

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 Rotary Kiln Systems

Capacity :12 - 100 Tons per Day ( with liner

and ceramic fiber insulation)
Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli
RDF-fired spreader stoker
combustor

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

Modular MSW combustor

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

Municipal solid waste incinerator

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

Multiple-Hearth sludge
incinerators

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

Fluidized-bed sludge incinerator

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

MSW incinerator incorporating
energy recovery

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

Components of commercial large
scale waste combustion facility

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

Mass burn waterwall combustor

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

Solid wastes combustion /
wastes-to-energy plant

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

 SUMMARY
• Incineration is a chemical reaction by which carbon, hydrogen, and other
elements in the waste combine with oxygen in the combustible air, and
generate heat.
• In this Unit, we discussed the objectives and issues to be considered
while planning an incineration facility.
• Next we learnt the various incineration processes and technologies-
mass burn, refuse derive fuel, modular incineration and fluidised bed
incineration.
• The product of incineration is heat that can be utilised for generation of
steam and electricity.
• The steam is used for heating, or is used to turn turbines to generate
electricity.
• The amount of energy recovered is a function of the amount of waste
combusted, the energy value of the waste stream and the efficiency of
the combustion process.
• Next we discussed the various air pollutants emitted out of an
incineration facility and the equipments used for their control namely
scrubbers, electrostatic precipitators and fabric filters.
• Finally, we learnt the impacts of incinerators on the environment.

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli

Dr. R. Gandhimathi / Professor / Civil Engg. / NIT, Tiruchirappalli