Effects of Varying Combustion Conditions on PCDD/F Formation

Abstract: Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) are by-products emitted from combustion sources such as municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration plants. These organic compounds are recognized as toxic, bioaccumulative and persistent in the environment. PCDD/Fs are removed from flue gases before released from MSW incineration. However, the PCDD/Fs are not destroyed but retained in the residues, thus in the environment. Understanding the pathways that lead to their formation is important in order to develop ways to suppress their formation and prevent their release into the environment. Suppressing the formation can also allow less expensive air pollution control system to be used, and/or the costs of thermally treating the residues to be reduced. The main objective of the studies underlying this thesis was to elucidate process, combustion and fuel parameters that substantially affect the emission levels and formation of PCDD/Fs in flue gases from MSW incineration. The experiments were conducted under controllable, realistic combustion conditions using a laboratory-scale reactor combusting artificial MSW.The parameter found to most strongly reduce the PCDD/F emissions, was prolonging the flue gas residence time at a relatively high temperature (460°C). Increasing the sulfur dioxide (SO2) to hydrogen chloride (HCl) ratio to 1.6 in the flue gas was also found to reduce the PCDF levels, but not the PCDD levels. Fluctuations in the combustion process (carbon monoxide peaks), high chlorine levels in the waste (1.7%) and low temperatures in the secondary combustion zone (660°C) all tended to increase the emission levels. The PCDD/PCDF ratio in the flue gas was found to depend on the chlorine level in the waste, fluctuations in the combustion process and the SO2:HCl ratio in the flue gas. The formation pathways were found to be affected by the quench time profiles in the post-combustion zone, fluctuations in the combustion process and addition of sulfur. In addition, increased levels of chlorine in the waste increased the chlorination degrees of both PCDDs and PCDFs. A tendency for increased SO2 levels in the flue gas to increase levels of polychlorinated dibenzothiophenes (sulfur analogues of PCDFs) was also detected, however the increases were much less significant than the reduction in PCDF levels.