FINE PARTICAL AND TOXIC METAL EMISSIONS FROM THE COMBUSTION OF SEWAGE SLUDGE/COAL MIXTURES: A SYSTEMATIC ASSESSMENT

Abstract

This research project focuses on pollutants from the combustion of mixtures of dried municipal sewage sludge (MSS) and pulverized coal. The objective was to determine potential tradeoffs between CO{sub 2} mitigation through using a CO{sub 2} neutral fuel, such as municipal sewage sludge, and the emergence of other potential problems such as the emission of toxic fly ash particles. The work led to new insight into mechanisms governing the partitioning of major and trace metals from the combustion of sewage sludge, and mixtures of coal and sewage sludge. The research also showed that the co-combustion of coal and sewage sludge emitted fine particulate matter that might potentially cause greater lung injury than that from the combustion of either coal alone or municipal sewage sludge alone. The reason appeared to be that the toxicity measured required the presence of large amounts of both zinc and sulfur in particles that were inhaled. MSS provided the zinc while coal provided the sulfur. Additional research showed that the toxic effects could most likely be engineered out of the process, through the introduction of kaolinite sorbent downstream of the combustion zone, or removing the sulfur from the fuel. These results are consequences of applying ''Health Effects Engineering'' to this issue. Health Effects Engineering is a new discipline arising out of this work, and is derived from using a collaboration of combustion engineers and toxicologists to mitigate the potentially bad health effects from combustion of this biomass fuel.