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Re: Tires burning and Dioxin?
For one, Neoprene a DuPont synthetic rubber), which is basically
chloroprene, is part of mixed scrap tires. I don't know if neoprene is the
polychloroprene that makes up 2% of '93 USA rubber cnsumption in pie chart
in ACS' _Chemical & Engin. News ( 29 Aug '94, p. 14). 'Other' makes up
10% of the market... Neoprene is such a familair name that I might have
guessed it made up more of the market than that, but maybe c. 2% is
right...
I agree w/ Alex that heavy metals are a major concern. I'm sure there's a
lot of data on their emissions from tiire fuels, some of which will be
valuable. All I have is an EPA research Project Summary
(EPA/600/SR-94/070, Jul '94) by their Air & Energy Engineering Lab in RTP,
NC; by Paul Lemmiux. It shows heavy metals from 0.05 ug/m3 for Be to
65.96 ug/m3 for Pb from a tire derived fuel (all metals elevated above a
non-TDF fuel burn). As & Zn were also high, along w/ Pd.
PCDD/F are said to be in the same range as the non-TDF burn, but the
summary gives no numbers. I'd imagine that if Neoprene is ~2% of the tire
market, it'd be well mixed by the time tires end up as fuel--ie there'd be
a uniform concentration of chlorprene in all TDFs...but maybe I'm missing
something. There's no way that adding, say, 1% of chlorine to a fuel
wouldn't significantly increase dioxin emissions...
I see a train derailment in July '97 near Flora MS caused authorities to
dynamite 35,000 gal of the highly flammable & reactive chloroprene. I'm
sure that created a nice dose of dioxins and other o-Cl's into the
atmosphere...
---
>I have heard diametrically opposed views of whether tires, burned
>as a substitute fuel in Portland cement kilns result in higher dioxin emissions
>than the normal fuel, assuming that fuel is coal from eastern US sources
>(that is "dirty" coal).
><p>Experts at the EPA assure me that their review of the literature confirms
>that the composition of tires is similar to coal with some exceptions,
>depending on the source of the fuel, and the ratio of tires to regular
>fuel. As a result, there may be minor differences in trace
>metal emissions, (more lead) but essentially no difference in the production
>of dioxins.
><p>I have also heard rumors of other studies showing that dioxin production
>is raised during tire burning. Views, anyone? And citations?
><p>Dian Deevey</html>