Dioxins/furans

Municipal and industrial incinerators Pathological incinerators Industrial waste Odors, hydrocarbons, HCl, dioxins, furans Particulates, smoke, and combustion contaminants Proper charging, acid gas scrubber, baghouse Modified fuel feed, auxiliary fuel and dryer systems, cyclones, scrubbers... 

Polyurethane foam Halogenated compounds including PCBs, dioxins, furans and organophosphorus compounds... 

Emissions from hazardous waste combustors are regulated under two statutory authorities RCRA and the CAA. The MACT standards set emission limitations for dioxins, furans, metals, particulate matter, total chlorine, hydrocarbons/carbon monoxide, and destruction and removal efficiency (DRE) for organics. Once a facility has demonstrated compliance with the MACT standards by conducting its comprehensive performance test (CPT) and submitting its notification of compliance (NOC), it is no longer subject to the RCRA emission requirements with a few exceptions. RCRA-permitted facilities, however, must continue to comply with their permitted emissions requirements until they obtain modifications to remove any duplicative emissions conditions from their RCRA... 

Phytostabilization Soils, sediments Metals and metalloids (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn, U, Se) Hydrophobic organics (PAHs, PCBs, dioxins, furans, pentachlorophenol, DDT, dieldrin) Phreatophyte trees to transpire large amounts of water for hydraulic control Grasses with fibrous roots to stabilize soil erosion Dense root systems are needed to sorb/bind contaminants... 

The pulp and paper industry is the largest industrial process water user in the U.S.5 In 2000, a typical pulp and paper mill used between 15,140 and 45,420 L (4000 to 12,000 gal) of water per ton of pulp produced. 1 2 3 4 General water pollution concerns for pulp and paper mills are effluent solids, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), and color. Toxicity concerns historically occurred from the potential presence of chlorinated organic compounds such as dioxins, furans, and others (collectively referred to as adsorbable organic halides, or AOX) in wastewaters after the chlorination/ extraction sequence. With the substitution of chlorine dioxide for chlorine, discharges of the chlorinated compounds have decreased dramatically. 

On April 19, 1996, U.S. EPA published a proposed rule, called the MACT rule, under the joint authority of the RCRA and the CAA, to upgrade the emission standards for HWCs. Specifically, this rule will affect incinerators, cement kilns, and lightweight aggregate kilns. It proposes emission standards for dioxins, furans, mercury, cadmium, lead, PM, hydrochloric acid, chlorine,... 

The expense of proper disposal leads to the shipment of large amounts of e-waste to China, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, and other developing countries. Shipment is often through middlemen, and under tariff classifications that make quantities difficult to assess. There, despite the intents of national regulations and hazardous waste laws, most e-waste is treated as general refuse, or crudely processed, perhaps by burning or acid baths, to recover only a few materials of value. Harm to the environment, workers, and area residents is inevitable, often from release of dioxins, furans, and heavy metals. 

In developed countries, e-waste is collected to recover some materials of value and to be safely rid of the lead, cadmium, mercury, dioxins, furans, and such toxic materials as they contain. In developing countries, e-waste is collected principally to recover a few metals of value. 

Rordorf, B. F. (1986) Thermal properties of dioxins, furans and related compounds. Chemosphere 15, 1325-1332. 

Baumann, P.C. and D.M. Whittle. 1988. The status of selected organics in the Laurentian Great Lakes an overview of DDT, PCBs, dioxins, furans, and aromatic hydrocarbons. Aquat. Toxicol. 11 241-257. 

Theelen, R.M.C., et al. Intake of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, substituted dioxins, furans, and planar PCBs from food in the Netherlands median and distribution, Chemosphere. 27, 1625, 1993. 

High-performance dioxin/furan CAPE Technologies http //www.cape-tech.com/... 

Dioxins, furans and heavy metals can be released as air borne pollutants in the ash, which needs to be landfilled with special care (i.e. mixed with cement) due to a danger of ground water contamination. 

Ho, A.K. and Clement, R.E., Chlorinated dioxins/furans in seage and sludge of municipal water pollution plants, Chemosphere 20,1990,1549-1552. 

Schecter A, Schaffner F, Tiernan T, et al. 1984. Ultrastructural alterations of liver mitochondria in response to dioxins, furans, polychlorinated biphenyls, and biphenylenes. In Poland A, Kimbrough RD, eds. Biological mechanisms of dioxin action. Cold Spring Harbor, New York Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Banbury Report, Vol. 18. Meeting, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, April 1984, 177-190. 

Several further modifications have been proposed to help lower/ eliminate dioxin formation within the CST system. These modifications are major in scale and budget/schedule constraints preempted their implementation in the test system, however the risk associated with the problem of dioxin/furan formation may warrant their imple-... 

Dioxins/furans 200 times below EPA MACT standard Not analyzed 72 times below EPA MACT standard Not analyzed Not analyzed... 

Rondorf, B. Thermal properties of dioxins, furans and related compounds. Chemosphere, 15(9-12) 1325-1332,1986. Rontani, J.F., Rambeloarisoa, E., Bertrand, J.C., and Giusti, G. Favourable interaction between photooxidation and bacterial degradation of anthracene in sea water, Chemosphere, 14(11/12) 1909-1912, 1985. 

The Alka/Sorb air pollution control system is designed to remove dioxin, furans, toxic metals, acid gases, and particulates from industrial and medical incinerator off-gas. The Alka/Sorb system consists of a dry treatment/wet scrubbing process during which incinerator off-gas is cooled, contacted with an alkaline powder, injected with a sorbent, filtered by a baghouse and then wet-scrubbed for final removal of trace acid gases. Two central parts of the Alka/Sorb system include a wet-acid scrubber and a patented sorbent called Diox-Blok, which prevents the formation of dioxins and furans in air emissions. 

According to the vendor, Alka/Sorb is capable of meeting the most stringent state standards for all emissions, including dioxin/furans and mercury. The vendor also states that AUca/Sorb is one of the few air pollution control systems capable of meeting stringent European Union (EU) emission standards. 

The vendor claims that the TDR process can be used to treat soil and sludge contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls, polynuclear aromatic compounds, solvents, dioxins, furans, organic pesticides and herbicides, solvents, petroleum wastes, as well as nonhalogenated volatile and semivolatile compounds. The treated residuals from the process include recovered water, oil that can be used for recycling as an alternative fuel or for recycling or can be disposed, and clean soil that can be used as backfill. The volume of treated sludge is reduced by as much as 95% by this thermal process, depending on the initial level of contaminants. 

The TRS could potentially treat nonmunicipal sludge, slag, or natural sediment ex situ. In addition to mercury, the system could be used to treat polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), petroleum hydrocarbons, dioxins/furans, and chlorinated solvents. 

The Basic Extractive Sludge Treatment (B.E.S.T. ) process is an ex situ solvent extraction technology. The B.E.S.T. process uses one or more secondary or tertiary amines, such as diisopropylamine, to separate contaminants from soil, sediment, and sludge. This technology is applicable to most organics or oily contaminants, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), pesticides, herbicides, dioxins, furans, and other organic compounds. 

Micro-Flo has been used at many sites throughout Canada to treat wastewater and surface water contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chlorophenols, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), phenols, dioxins, furans, hydrocarbons, metals, oil, and grease. The technology has also been used to treat water contaminated with paint, paint thinner, and paint solvents. 

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