ERT 319

Industrial Waste
Treatment

Semester 1 2012/2013
Huzairy Hassan
School of Bioprocess Engineering
UniMAP
INCINERATION
 Incineration
- Alternative to landfill.
- Incineration is the oxidation of the combustible material
in the waste to produce heat, water vapor, nitrogen, CO2,
and O2.
- Others may be formed, ex: CO, HCl, HF, NO, SO2, heavy
metals, etc.
- Incineration now for waste disposal, energy recovery
and economic necessity.
- Advantages over landfill:
1) can be carried out near the point of waste collection.
2) the waste is reduced into a biologically sterile ash
product ~ 10% of its pre-burnt volume & 33% of
its pre-burnt weight.
3) does not produce methane, unlike landfill (greenhouse gas)
4) as low-cost source of energy to produce steam, for
electric power generation, industrial process heating or
hot water conserving valuable primary fuel resources.
5) the bottom ash residues can be used for materials
recovery or as secondary aggregates in construction.
6) the best practicable environmental option for many hazardous
wastes such as highly flammable, volatile, toxic and infectious
waste.
Disadvantages:
1) Higher cost, longer pay-back periods, due to high
capital investment.
2) Lack of flexibility in the choice of waste disposal once
chosen, because high capital cost tied to long-term
waste disposal contracts.
3) Removal of materials such as paper and plastics for
recycling may reduce the overall calorific value of waste
may affect incinerator performance.
4) Some public concern that the emitted levels may still
have an adverse effect on health.
5) Incineration still produce a solid waste residue which
require further management.
 Types of incinerator:
1) Mass-burn incineration
2) Other types fluidized bed, cyclonic, starved
air or pyrolytic, rotary kiln, etc.
 Mass burn incineration
Sections:
1) Waste delivery, bunker and feeding system
2) Furnace
3) Heat recovery
4) Emissions control
5) Energy recovery via district heating and
electricity generation.
Gas clean-up
 Gas clean-up
Cyclones- remove particles larger than 15 m, but incinerator
particulates < 15 m size. Thus, its only used as a preliminary
collector, prior to electrostatic precipitator of fabric filter.

Electrostatic Precipitators- the dust-laden gas stream enters EP,

the particles are charged by ve ions by corona discharge in an
intense electrostatic field, then attracted to oppositely charged
collector electrode plates, then the particles accumulate.

Fabric Filters- consist of a series of elongated, permeable fabric bags

through which the particulate-laden gas flow and filter out the
particles from gas stream. Can remove particles with submicron
size. Can be coated with additives where adsorption take place.
Cyclones
Wet Scrubbers (Dry or semi-dry scrubbers)- remove soluble
acid gases such as hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride and sulfur
dioxide. The acid gases passes through spray of liquid (alkaline
solution such as CaOH or NaOH). Then, hydrochloric or hydrofluoric
acids produced, thus remove heavy metals which are soluble in acid
solutions.

De- NOX systems- Nitrogen oxides, NOX (NO & NO2) are formed
from nitrogen in the air used for combustion and in fuel itself at high
temperature. Contributes to acid rain and act as photochemical
oxidant in the atm.
To reduce NOX control the combustion conditions (lower T, lower O2
levels)
use Non-catalytic reduction using ammonia (high T
850-950 C)
controlled by selective catalytic reduction, SCR
(ammonia added, low T, wide T range, Pt, Pd, etc)
THANK YOU