The behavior of PCDD/Fs, PCBs, chlorobenzenes and chlorophenols in wet scrubbing system of municipal solid waste incinerator

Abstract

Though some researchers have already reported polychlorinated dibenzo- p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) concentration in flue gas at inlet and outlet of wet scrubber (WS) in municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI), there are few investigations about scrubbing water, suspended solid (SS) in scrubbing water and sludge. In order to understand the behavior of PCDD/Fs in WS and to make clear the effect of the residence time of scrubbing water in WS on the PCDD/Fs concentrations in scrubbing water and at the outlet gas of WS, PCDD/Fs, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), chlorobenzenes (CBzs) and chlorophenols (CPs) concentrations in various media around WS were investigated at two MSWIs. PCDD/Fs concentration in flue gas at outlet of WS was higher than that at inlet of WS in both MSWIs. In WS A, it was observed that the homologue profiles changed considerably and the concentration of higher chlorinated compounds such as H7CDD/Fs and O8CDD/F increased remarkably at outlet gas of WS A. Only CPs were transferred from flue gas to scrubbing water in both WSs. As for scrubbing water, a large amount of their chlorinated aromatic compounds was detected in SS particles. According to the results, it was found that not only flue gas conditions but also operational and structural conditions in WS had great influence on minimizing the memory of chlorinated aromatic compounds in WS.