Assessment of Incineration Process Performance in a District Hospital Using Statistical Analysis

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the performance of an old existing medical waste incinerator in a district (Temeke) hospital. The medical waste incinerated was grouped into two categories: sharps waste and other waste. The parameters assessed included amounts of sharps and other waste incinerated, amount of fuel used and the incineration cycle time. One incineration cycle was conducted per day and data was collected for 22 months (N = 653). It was established that the total waste incinerated per day ranged from 70 to 120 kg, completing the process between 2 and 4 hrs and consuming 20 to 40 L of fuel per day. The analysis showed further that sharps waste incinerated were 25% of the total waste while other waste incinerated were about 75% on average. The average diesel oil used was 30 L/day and average cycle time was observed to be 3 hrs, both being excessively high indicating that the performance of the incin-erator was poor. The statistical analysis was used to reveal stronger variations in other waste than sharps waste. The PDF plots, skewness and kurtosis values indicated that there were weak variations in the daily diesel oil consumed and incineration cycle time while stronger variations were observed in the other waste compared to sharps waste data. Normalization of the incinerator performance data allowed comparison between different data types also indicating poor performance of the incinerator. Proper segregation at point of generation and proper storage of medical waste was recommended. It was further recommended for the hospital to install a new and efficient incinerator with short incineration cycle time and less fuel consumption.