Emissions of volatile organic compounds from large‐scale incineration plants

Abstract

This paper gives results of the measurements and evaluation of emissions from seven Swedish incineration plants. The investigated incinerators ranged from 12 to 80 MW, and include Martin grate, Von Roll grate, Overthrust (W+E) grate, Vereinige Kesselwerke (V+K) grate, travelling grate, vibration grate and circulating fluidized bed (CFB) types. The analytical techniques used include online carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOX), sulfur dioxide (SO2), particulate matter (PM), carbon dioxide (CO2), combustion and flue gas temperatures, gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC/MS), using Tenax as adsorbent. A number of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were identified and quantified. The effects of waste compositions, size of incinerators, air pollution control systems on the VOCs in flue gas were investigated. Overall combustion characteristics such as waste compositions, carbon monoxide incinerator output have been related to the emissions of total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs). The results show that these large‐scale incinerators have low VOC emissions, ranging from 0.07 to 0.90 mg/nm after the flue‐gas cleaning systems. The efficiency of air pollution control (APC) systems in reducing VOCs ranged from 26.1 to 90.4 %. High efficiency was found in the new systems with lime reactors and textile filters. Results from two incinerators showed that electrostatic precipitators had no effect on reducing VOCs. High TVOC emissions occurred in two plants when the moisture and plastic contents of the refuse were high. The relationship between CO and TVOC was also indicated, although incinerators, combustion conditions, flue gas cleaning systems and fuels are all confounding factors.