BSL Incineration Process

The plant capacity for all waste types together will be around 45,000 tpa. It will have a heat production capacity of 25 MW at 7,500 productive hours a year. The plant can also accept PVC. Eor such solid chlorinated waste at most 15,000 tpa/yr capacity is available. This has been based on a test with a DOW kiln in Stade, Germany. The BSL plant has been operational since mid 1999. 

The process is basically a rotary kiln design. Waste is first pretreated and then inserted in the rotary kiln, where it is incinerated with air. The chlorinated hydrocarbons are converted into H2O, CO2 and HCl. After that, in a wet scrubber the HCl is recovered as aqueous HCl. If needs be, natural gas or liquid energy carriers can be added in order to reach the necessary high temperatures in the afterburner. 

In the post-combustion chamber temperatures of 900 °C to 1200 °C are reached. The kiln can - like any rotary kihi - handle solid, fluid and gaseous waste streams. Based on the heat capacity of the waste, halogen content, and potential slag formation, an optimal mixture of wastes is determined. By choosing the feed carefully, production of high-quality HCl can be assured. Furthermore, in this way a minimum formation of dioxins and furans can be ensured. 

The flue gas from post-combustion is cooled from 1200 °C to 230 °C to 300 C. Here, energy is recovered. Steam is produced that is added to the steam network of the BSL Schkopau site. In the flue gas purification, the HCl is absorbed from the flue gas by water. Also, other impurities are removed from the gas. The raw HCl is then purified to a useful feedstock. 

The composition of the inert fraction depends on the chemical composition of the waste input. Most probably the inorganic parts of the PVC formulations, like metal-containing stabilisers, will end up in this slag. 

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Schematic representation of the Texaco process, the Shell process, the AKZO steam gasification process, the Linde KCA process, the NCR process and the BSL incineration process are given by TNO [15],...

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