THERMAL DESTRUCTION OF WASTES AND PLASTICS

Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryiand DAVID G. LILLEY 

School of Mechanical Aerospace Engineering, Okiahoma State University 

Plastics and the Environment, Edited by Anthony L. Andrady. ISBN 0-471-09520-6 2003 John Wiley Sons, Inc. 

Almost all thermal destruction and incineration problems of today involve multiphase situations. In two-phase flows, accurate size and velocity measurements of particles are important for a broad spectrum of applications. Solid particles are not spherical in shape. Their shape is qnite complex and far from being uniform. Complete characterization of local properties includes such attributes as particle size and number density distribntion, a velocity distribution function related to particles of different size, mean velocity of the gas phase, local gas and particle temperatures, composition of both the gas and particle phases, turbulence properties, and the Uke. In particle-laden flows the influence of turbulence on the particles and vice versa is important. The reUable and precise measurement of any one of the above properties is a nontrivial task. 

The United States generates about 1.8 kg (approx. 4.0 lb) per person per day of solid waste see Chopra et al. [1]. This translates to over one billion tons of 

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