Effluent treatment combustion products

When viewing effluent treatment methods, it is clear that the basic problem of disposing safely of waste material is, in many cases, not so much solved but moved from one place to another. If a method of treatment can be used that allows material to be recycled, then the waste problem is truly solved. However, if the treatment simply concentrates the waste as concentrated liquid, slurry or solid in a form, which cannot be recycled, then it will still need to be disposed of. Landfill disposal of such waste is increasingly unacceptable and thermal oxidation causes pollution through products of combustion and liquors from scrubbing systems. The best method for dealing with effluent problems is to solve the problem at source by waste minimization, as will be discussed in Chapter 28. 

The Parsons/Honeywell EDS also included tests of CATOX units to ascertain if residual mustard agent that might have survived steam treatment in the MPTs and CST had been destroyed (Parsons, 2000a). These units were challenged with 10 mg/m of mustard agent, compared with expected values of less than 3 J,g/m in a full-scale operation. The test results showed that the CATOX units could successfully achieve a destruction and removal efficiency of 99.999 percent at this level for a period of 637 hours. No catalyst deactivation or increased pressure drop was observed. However, there was some plugging of the effluent cooler, presumably by products of combustion of the mustard agent. 

---