Re: Municipal solid waste incinerator

["Sam McClintock" <scmcclintock@ipass.net>]

  I wrote an individual note to Lynda on this, but I thought a general
  letter to the group would be appropriate.
  
  Lynda described a municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) that was
  going to increase operations to seven days a week from the current five
  days per week.  The operating authority said that the startup and
  shutdown phases had upset conditions that produced more pollution such
  as dioxins, and that operating all week would reduce the emissions from
  these two conditions (except under the obvious cases of maintenance
  when the plant is shut down, then restarted).  She said the control
  technology was a baghouse.
  
  The MSWI generally has more emissions during startup and shutdown, that
  is correct.  The upset conditions are more likely to occur at startup
  and will last from ten to twenty minutes depending on operator
  training, the type of incinerator, and how easy the process is to
  control (in some cases over-automation actually makes controlling this
  much harder from an operator standpoint).  In addition to saving some
  emission problems, the facility is eliminating stress brought about by
  the condition changes to the system.  E.g. it is eliminating a number
  of times the facility is brought up to operating temperature, then
  cooled down to ambient temperatures.
  
  However, the facility's reasoning probably has more to do with burning
  more trash, in this case a 20+% increase in overall throughput to the
  system.  Normally, this is not a big deal for many types of facilities.
   Except here, the MSWI may have only one form of control technology - a
  baghouse.  I don't know how accurate the description is, but if true,
  then a lot of pollution will just increase 20%, which would more than
  offset any savings made by eliminating those startups and shutdowns. 
  The baghouse does not control oxides of nitrogen (NOx), volatile
  organic compounds (VOCs), and carbon monoxide (CO).  Many products of
  incomplete combustion (PICs) are also VOCs and would not be collected. 
  Many semi-volatile organic compounds will pass through, how much
  depends on the temperature in the baghouse - which includes dioxins and
  furans.  And the source may not be collecting acid gases or sulfur
  dioxide (SO2) (depends on if lime injection is used or not).  Its
  collection of mercury emissions is usually very poor, and depending on
  the temperature of the baghouse, may not collect cadmium, lead, and
  hexavalent chromium too well either.
  
  To be fair to baghouses, they do collect 99+% of the particulate
  pollution sent through it if it is correctly sized and properly
  maintained.
  
  If this is the only control technology on the facility, then the
  operating agency is just waving mirrors in an attempt to increase
  throughput to the system.  On the plus side, if an operating increase
  such as this is requested, it may provide the means of legally forcing
  the company to install more control technology that would more than
  offset any increase in operations, such as a venturi scrubber followed
  by a packed-column scrubber.  This type of scrubber installation would
  reduce much of the above by 99% or better, but still have a problem
  with NOx, CO and some VOCs.  VOCs and CO are best controlled by good
  operating practices; NOx requires a revised combustion chamber (not
  likely) or a selective catalytic reactor (SCR) (expensive).
  
  Sam McClintock
  scmcclintock@ipass.net