Incineration, hazardous waste

Hazardous Waste Incineration—H Resource Document, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, New York, 1988, p. ix. 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Hazardous Waste Incineration Questions andMnswers, EPA/530-SW-88-018, Washington, D.C., Apr. 1988, p. 1. 

J. P. Reynolds, R. R. Dupont, and L. Theodore, Hazardous Waste Incineration Calculations Problems and Software, ]ohn Wiley Sons, Inc., New York, 1991. 

Theodore, L. and J. R. Reynolds, Introduction to Hazardous Waste Incineration, New York, Wiley-Interscience, 1989. 

Vataviik, W. M., and R. B. Neveril, Factors for Estimating Capital and Operating Costs, Chemical Engineering, November 3, 1980, pp. 157-162. Vogel, G. A. andE. J. Martin, Hazardous Waste Incineration, Chemical Engineering, September 5, 1983, pp. 143-146 (part 1). 

Vogel, G. A. andE. J. Martin, Hazardous Waste Incineration, Chemical Engineering, October 17, 1983, pp. 75-78 (part 2). 

Multiple Metals Testing The samphng method commonly used to measure emissions of metals from stationaiy sources is contained in 40 CFR 266, Appendix IX. The procedure is titled Methodology for the Determination of Metals Emissions in Exhaust Gases from Hazardous Waste Incineration and Similar Combustion Processes. It is also currently pubhshed as Draft EPA Method 29 for inclusion in 40 CFR 60. 

List five categories (such as hazardous waste incineration) that may be considered as major" or "area sources of hazardous air pollutants,... 

Schofield, W.R. Lutzman, John Patterson, Gene W. Use of Chemical Additives to Reduce The Impact of Slag Formation in Hazardous Waste Incineration. Hazardous Materials Control Journal, USA, 1992. 

Mere destruction of the original hazardous material is not, however, an adequate measure of the performance of an incinerator. Products of incomplete combustion can be as toxic as, or even more toxic than, the materials from which they evolve. Indeed, highly mutagenic PAHs are readily generated along with soot in fuel-rich regions of most hydrocarbon flames. Formation of dioxins in the combustion of chlorinated hydrocarbons has also been reported. We need to understand the entire sequence of reactions involved in incineration in order to assess the effectiveness and risks of hazardous waste incineration. 

EPA. 1981b. Engineering handbook for hazardous waste incineration. Cincinnati, OH U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development. EPA-68/03-3/025, 3-9. 

Burners Used oil burners are handlers who burn used oil for energy recovery in boilers, industrial furnaces, or hazardous waste incinerators. 

Note that U.S. EPA regulations (under the RCRA) for hazardous waste incineration require that particulate emissions be no more than 180 mg/m3 and that hydrogen chloride removal efficiency from the exhaust gas can be no less than 99%. Therefore, trial bums to determine the maximum ash and chlorine content that a waste can handle are needed prior to issuance of a permit. 

In most hazardous waste incinerators, combustion occurs in two combustion chambers. Combustion is completed in the secondary combustion chamber after the compounds have been converted to gases and partially combusted in the first chamber. 

Another critical part of the incinerator design is the pollution control system.11 Pollution control systems directly influence the levels and kinds of pollutants that are released and that can potentially reach the public. Most modern hazardous waste incinerators are designed with extensive air pollution removal systems. For example, a common pollution control system might include a system that cools or quenches gases produced by burning waste, followed by a system that reduces acid gas emissions, and ultimately followed by a particulate removal system such as fabric filters (bag-houses), electrostatic precipitators, venturi scrubbers, and others.10... 

Finally, current design of hazardous waste incinerators includes various safeguards, such as process monitoring devices (to monitor parameters such as temperature, air flow, and operating... 

Some considerations relevant to public health concerns about modern and effective incineration systems have been described. However, local health officials and citizens of communities with hazardous waste incinerators have expressed to ATSDR their concern that they may not be able to judge a good operation, or that, once the initial trial burns and inspections are completed, the system may not be operated in the same manner as during the testing phase. Citizens have also expressed concern that burning rates will be exceeded or monitoring systems will be overridden. 

The following is a summary of items that should be considered when evaluating proposed or existing hazardous waste incinerators for public health acceptability10 ... 

The Subpart O standards4 for hazardous waste incinerators set performance standards that limit the quantity of gaseous emissions an incinerator may release. Specifically, the regulations set limits on the emission of organics, HC1, and PM. The following section outlines the requirements for each of these substances. 

A RCRA permit for a hazardous waste incinerator sets operating conditions that specify allowable ranges for, and requires continuous monitoring of, certain critical parameters. Operation within these parameters ensures that combustion is performed in the most protective manner and the performance standards are achieved. These parameters, or operating conditions, include16... 

An owner/operator wishing to operate a new hazardous waste incinerator is required to obtain an RCRA permit before construction of the unit commences. 

The purpose of a hazardous waste incinerator permit is to allow a new hazardous incinerator to establish conditions including, but not limited to, allowable waste feeds and operating conditions that will ensure adequate protection of human health and the environment. The incinerator permit covers four phases of operation pretrial bum, trial bum, posttrial burn, and final operating conditions. 

The posttrial bum period is the time for U.S. EPA to evaluate all of the data that were recorded during the incinerator s trial burn. To allow the operation of a hazardous waste incinerator following the completion of the trial bum, U.S. EPA establishes permit conditions sufficient to ensure that the unit will meet the incinerator performance standards. This posttrial burn period is limited to the minimum time required to complete the sampling, analysis, data computation of trial bum results, and the submission of these results to U.S. EPA. 

Source U.S. EPA, Introduction to Hazardous Waste Incinerators, 40 CFR Parts 264/265, Subpart O, EPA530-R-99-052, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, February 2000. 

U.S. EPA s recommendations regarding stack emission tests, which may be performed at hazardous waste combustion facilities for the purpose of supporting MACT standards and multipathway, site-specific risk assessments, where such a risk assessment has been determined to be necessary by the permit authority, can be found in the U.S. EPA document on Risk Burn Guidance for Hazardous Waste Combustion Facilities.32 The applicability of the new standards has been demonstrated in the management of hazardous waste incinerators, whose performance was shown to clearly surpass the regulatory requirements in all tested areas.33... 

DEQ Utah, General Information—Hazardous Waste Incineration, Utah Department of Environmental Quality, 2009. Available at http //www.hazardouswaste.utah.gov/GeneralInformation.htm. 

Carroll, G.J. and Oberacker, D.A., Characteristics of pilot- and full-scale hazardous waste incinerator ash, in Proceedings of the 1989 Incineration Conference, Knoxville, TN, 8.3.1-8.3.6, 1989. 

Roberts, S., Teat, C., and Bean, J., Hazardous Waste Incineration Evaluating the Human Health and Environmental Risks, CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1999, p. 400. 

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