ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the state of knowledge regarding hazardous waste incineration in an effort to put the technological and environmental issues into perspective. Different incineration technologies have been developed for handling the various types and physical forms of hazardous waste. The major subsystems which may be incorporated into a hazardous waste incineration system are waste preparation and feeding, combustion chamber(s), air pollution control, and residue and ash handling. Other types of systems are also being employed to destroy hazardous waste thermally. These include ocean incineration vessels, mobile incinerators, and high temperature industrial furnaces. Proper and accurate measurement of the emissions from incineration systems is a critical issue. Measurement of a wide variety of incinerator operating parameters may be necessary to maintain thermal destruction conditions which are equivalent to those observed during a successful trial burn. The chapter summarizes test burn data in following areas: metal emissions, combustion by product emissions, dioxin emission, and ash and air pollution control residue quality.