ABSTRACT
In the sector of municipal solid waste (MSW) management, incineration options have undergone significant improvements in recent years, as demonstrated in many life cycle analysis studies and research (Consonni et al., 2005; Damgaard et al., 2010; Fruergaard and Astrup, 2011; Larsen and Astrup, 2011; Marculescu, 2012). However, at least for the sector of MSW, incineration still remains the major contributor of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and polychlorinated dibenzofuran (PCDD/F) emissions (Rada et al., 2006). In a wider context, metallurgy and uncontrolled burning are the most relevant sources in countries where environmental controls are more carefully operated (Antunes et al., 2012; Lemieux et al., 2004). As
the method of release into the atmosphere may significantly change the role of a MSW plant in terms of PCDD/F immissions (Rada et al., 2011), the characterization of the performance of a MSW incinerator should take into account both the assessment of stack emissions and the measurements of pollutants at ground level. In most countries flue gas dispersion modeling takes place in each prevalent weather type, with its concomitant wind direction and speed, and simulates this effect. In this respect a recent article pointed out how the contribution of a modern incinerator, assessed by modeling, can be very low compared with the values that the local monitoring stations can typically measure (Ragazzi and Rada, 2012).
