Degradation combustion

Regardless of the method of lewisite degradation (combustion, hydrolysis, or other environmental degradation), the arsenic component will not be eliminated and, therefore, at least some combustion product or other degradation products may be some form of arsenical. The recognized degradation products of lewisite are listed in Table 1. 

Toxic Chemicals from Degradation, Combustion and Sterilisation of Plastics and Rubbers... 

Char-forming thermoplastics often swell and intumesce during their degradation (combustion), and the flame-retardant approach is to promote the formation of such intumescent char. 

The second major characteristic thermal phenomenon of bone tissue is associated with the degradation, combustion and elimination of the organic component. It is assumed... 

Combustion in an incinerator is the only practical way to deal with many waste streams.This is particularly true of solid and concentrated wastes and toxic wastes such as those containing halogenated hydrocarbons, pesticides, herbicides, etc. Many of the toxic substances encountered resist biological degradation and persist in the natural environment for a long period of time. Unless they are in dilute aqueous solution, the most effective treatment is usually incineration. 

Incineration in an approved combustion plant is the preferred method of disposal. Wastewater from succinic acid processes is suitable for biological degradation by activated sludge (188). Polymeric sorbents (189) and ferric chloride treatment processes (190) can also be used for wastes containing... 

Exhaust emissions of CO, unbumed hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxides reflect combustion conditions rather than fuel properties. The only fuel component that degrades exhaust is sulfur the SO2 concentrations ia emissions are directly proportional to the content of bound sulfur ia the fuel. Sulfur concentrations ia fuel are determined by cmde type and desulfurization processes. Specifications for aircraft fuels impose limits of 3000 —4000 ppm total sulfur but the average is half of these values. Sulfur content ia heavier fuels is determined by legal limits on stack emissions. 

The challenge in these designs is to lower the NO without degradation in unit stability. In the combustion of fuels that do not contain nitrogen compounds, NOx compounds (primarily NO) are formed by two main mechanisms, thermal mechanism and the prompt mechanism. In the thermal mechanism, NO is formed by the oxidation of molecular nitrogen through the following reactions ... 

Implementation of advanced performance degradation models, necessitate the inclusion of advanced instrumentation and sensors such as pyrometers for monitoring hot section components, dynamic pressure transducers for detection of surge and other flow instabilities such as combustion especially in the new dry low NO combustors. To fully round out a condition monitoring system the use of expert systems in determining fault and life cycle of various components is a necessity. 

Liquids and solids do not burn as such, but on exposure to heat vaporize or undergo thermal degradation to liberate flammable gases and vapours which burn. Some chemicals undergo spontaneous combustion (see page 214). 

Ion chromatography has been successfully applied to the quantitative analysis of ions in many diverse types of industrial and environmental samples. The technique has also been valuable for microelemental analysis, e.g. for the determination of sulphur, chlorine, bromine, phosphorus and iodine as heteroatoms in solid samples. Combustion in a Schoniger oxygen flask (Section 3.31 )is a widely used method of degrading such samples, the products of combustion being absorbed in solution as anionic or cationic forms, and the solution then directly injected into the ion chromatograph. 

M. L. Bernard et al, CRAcadSci, Ser C, 272 (26), 2112-15 (1972) CA.75, 101675 (1971) A generalization of the previously described (Bernard et al, 1971) ablation theory (for AP) combustion to include AP-based solid propints provides satisfactory fits to the exptl data of M. Summerfield et al (1960), with reproduction of the two distinct pressure regimes observed in the combustion of AP-based powders between 0 and 100 bars. The solid binding agent is assumed to be easily pyrolyzable, with each mol producing several combustible gaseous mols, as in the case of pyrolytically degrading polymers... 

The subsequent fate of the assimilated carbon depends on which biomass constituent the atom enters. Leaves, twigs, and the like enter litterfall, and decompose and recycle the carbon to the atmosphere within a few years, whereas carbon in stemwood has a turnover time counted in decades. In a steady-state ecosystem the net primary production is balanced by the total heterotrophic respiration plus other outputs. Non-respiratory outputs to be considered are fires and transport of organic material to the oceans. Fires mobilize about 5 Pg C/yr (Baes et ai, 1976 Crutzen and Andreae, 1990), most of which is converted to CO2. Since bacterial het-erotrophs are unable to oxidize elemental carbon, the production rate of pyroligneous graphite, a product of incomplete combustion (like forest fires), is an interesting quantity to assess. The inability of the biota to degrade elemental carbon puts carbon into a reservoir that is effectively isolated from the atmosphere and oceans. Seiler and Crutzen (1980) estimate the production rate of graphite to be 1 Pg C/yr. 

Thermosets and thermoplastics behave differently from each other in fires. Thermosets do not melt when heated but may well undergo further crosslinking. The presence of such additional crosslinks hinders movement of any volatile degradation products through the polymer matrix. Hence the combustion zone tends to be starved of fuel and for this reason thermosets tend to be relatively non-flammable. 

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