Combustion Products From The Incineration Of Plastics

Waste Incineration Handbook discusses the basic concepts and data on wastes combustion, including the management of waste incineration as a means to control pollution, as well as the process technologies involved. The book reviews the combustion principles such as fuel-to-air ratio, the products of combustion, material and thermal balances. Incineration produces emissions in the form of particulate matter, odorous or noxious gases. Conventional particle capturing devices use gravity settling, inertia or momentum, filtration or electrostatic precipitation, and agglomeration via sonic mechanical means to facilitate removal by increasing particle size. Secondary combustion with or without catalysts, and wet scrubbing control are methods to control or eliminate objectionable odors. The design and operation of an efficient incinerator is based on proper proportions of air and fuel; sufficient temperature; adequate furnace volume; constant maintenance of ignition temperatures; and minimized fly-ash entrainment. The text also discusses on-site incineration and incineration at sea. The book is suitable for economists, environmentalists, ecologists, marine ecologists, and policy makers involved in environmental preservation and pollution control.

Incineration has been used widely for waste disposal, including household, hazardous, and medical wasteâ€"but there is increasing public concern over the benefits of combusting the waste versus the health risk from pollutants emitted during combustion. Waste Incineration and Public Health informs the emerging debate with the most up-to-date information available on incineration, pollution, and human healthâ€"along with expert conclusions and recommendations for further research and improvement of such areas as risk communication. The committee provides details on: Processes involved in incineration and how contaminants are released. Environmental dynamics of contaminants and routes of human exposure. Tools and approaches for assessing possible human health effects. Scientific concerns pertinent to future regulatory actions. The book also examines some of the social, psychological, and economic factors that affect the communities where incineration takes place and addresses the problem of uncertainty and variation in predicting the health effects of incineration processes.

Although many people may want to know how plastics bum, the question of how plastics bum is only a part of a much larger question: "How does anything bum?" To examine the burning process of plastics in isolation does not make any sense and may lend credence to the idea that plastics are a special material with a special hazard. An analogy would be to study how "carbonless" carbon paper bums and then to relate the burning characteristics and combustion products of this single type of paper to all other types of paper, and even to other wood products and to wood itself. The testing of one type of product from a very large family of products that are physically similar, and the relation of these test results to all other members of that family, has no basis in the scientific method. Those who do so are ignorant of science-unless they have some hidden reason for wanting to ascribe certain properties to all related materials.

Based on papers delivered at the First International Congress on Toxic Combustion By-products: Formation and Control, held in Los Angeles, Calif., August 1989. An overview of emissions, health risks, and existing regulations is followed by coverage of such topics as continuous emissions monitoring and control, processing of solids and liquids, fundamental chemistry, metals emissions, gas transport, and advanced combustion and control systems. Despite the length of time between the conference and publication, no index was prepared. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Covering each aspect of an incineration facility, from contaminant receipt and storage to stack discharge and dispersion, this reference explores the operation and evaluation of incineration systems for hazardous and non-hazardous gaseous, liquid, sludge, and solid wastes. Highlighting breakthroughs in air pollution control, the book discusses adva