Metal and organic emissions from RDF and large volume contributor combustion

• Main Author: Lee, Taejin, 1961-
• Other Authors: Williamson, Kenneth J.
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: Refuse as fuel > Environmental aspects; Waste products as fuel > Environmental aspects; Incineration > Environmental aspects
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1957/35934

The use of municipal refuse (RDF) as fuels has received widespread attention for reason of its energy equivalence and the increasing lack of available landfill sites. The principal obstacle to the construction of combustion facilities is that RDF produces toxic compounds, including heavy metals and such organic compounds as PCDD and PCDF. In this study, the emissions of metal and organic compounds were investigated under oxygen deficient and oxygen surplus conditions for the RDF and such high volume contributors as office papers and magazines. The principal metal emissions of the RDF were Al, Ca, K, Si, and Zn. Magazines significantly contribute B, Mg, Mn, Ti emissions, whereas office papers contributed Ti and Zn emissions. The metal emissions were not significantly different between oxygen deficient and oxygen surplus conditions at a temperature of 750��C. The combustion of RDF produced a full range of PCDFs and PCDFs, the source of which was determined to be RDF, papers, and even untreated wood combustion effluents in the parts-per-billion range. In contrast to metal emissions, emission rates were higher under the oxygen surplus condition than for the oxygen deficient condition and PCDD and PCDF emissions were significant in relation to the chloride contents of fuel, rather than by fuel type as was the case for the large volume contributors. With the exception of Hg, Se, S, Sr, and Pb, the metal emissions were largely derived from the particles in the effluent. === Graduation date: 1993 === Text is slanted on original. Best scan available.