Medical Waste Incinerator Research Articles

Source identification, contamination status and health risk assessment of heavy metals from road dusts in Dhaka, Bangladesh

In this study, concentrations of Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb were determined in road dusts collected from different locations in Dhaka to assess source, contamination status and health risk. Energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were used to determine Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb and their mean concentrations were 162.27 ± 29.46, 721.18 ± 180.14, 35.65 ± 12.55, 104.56 ± 128.33, 515.32 ± 321.90, BDL, and 342.82 ± 591.20 mg/kg, respectively. Among the heavy metals, highest concentrations of Cu, Zn and Pb were found at urban sites-7 (municipal waste dumping) and 8 (medical waste incineration). Highest concentration of Cr followed by Cu and Zn was found at site-5 (Tejgaon, urban). Principal component analysis revealed that anthropogenic activities are the potential sources for Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb while earth crust for Mn. Pollution index and pollution load index results suggested that all the sites were contaminated and/or degraded by Cr, Cu, Zn and Pb except sites-9 (urban), 10 (sub-urban), 11 (rural) while sites-7 and 8 (urban) were extremely degraded. For noncarcinogenic health risk, hazard quotient values for dermal were higher compared to that of inhalation/ingestion. Though hazard index values were less than 1 at all the sites, these were at least one order of magnitude higher for children group than that of adult group, thus the children group may face more noncarcinogenic health risk at sites-7 and 8. Values of incremental lifetime cancer risk were from 10−9 to 10−11 showed no carcinogenic health risk by road dusts contaminated with the heavy metals.

Incineration of medical waste: Emission of pollutants into the environment

Medical waste incinerator is a matter of concern for the environment and public health due to secondary pollutants. The present work aims to evaluate the toxic emissions from medical waste incineration, such as Polychlorinated Dibenzo-Dioxin/Furan (PCDD/Fs), Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), and the inorganic components in ambient air and ash. Hence, this study discusses several strategies to reduce emissions. For this purpose, searches were done in Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed databases from 2000 to 2020. After the search, screening was done according to the predefined criteria, 96 papers were finally selected for this study. The results show that the emissions levels depend on many factors like the composition of the feeding, waste type, waste classification, segregation practice, types of incinerators, operation conditions (designed temperature, retention time, and excess oxygen), and air pollution control devices. For instance, emissions of Medical Waste Incinerators (MWIs) rise sharply with a decrease in temperature, increase in oxygen levels and chlorine content in waste, and the absence or weak function of air pollution control systems. This review prepared a comprehensive detailed for decision-makers to help them to understand the environmental consequences of using incinerators. However, there is a gap in finding efficient methods to reduce emissions of incinerators.

Hygienic assessment of the development of non-carcinogenic risk to population health in the area of air pollution during medical waste incineration

The purpose of this study is to assess the risk of developing non-carcinogenic effects for public health due to the release of chemicals into the air from medical waste incinerators. An assessment of the public health risk observed in monitoring the growth of waste consumption is necessary to determine the likelihood of adverse effects on organs and systems. The study included the analysis and ranking of chemicals that are part of the industrial emissions of enterprises burning medical waste, emission dispersion modeling with calculation of ground concentrations and assessment of non-carcinogenic risks to public health. Analysis of noncarcinogenic health risks showed the likelihood of adverse effects on organs and systems. It has been established that the maximum levels of chronic non-carcinogenic risk during inhalation intake of pollutants from the atmospheric air (in the zone of influence of the medical waste incineration enterprise no. 1) are noted for such components such as sulfur dioxide, benzo/a/pyrene, and in the zone of influence of the medical waste incinerator no. 2 — for sulfur dioxide, benz/a/pyrene, nitrogen dioxide and suspended solids. The maximum values of the total hazard indices exceed the permissible values for the impact on the respiratory organs, cases of additional mortality, development processes, the immune system, and the hematopoietic system. These levels of risk from exposure to medical waste incinerators have been assessed as unacceptable for the public. The study confirms the need to develop practical recommendations and preventive measures to reduce the impact of chemical factors on public health.

Comprehensive review on medical waste incineration

Comprehensive review on medical waste incineration

Impact of COVID-19 Case Numbers on the Emission of Pollutants from a Medical Waste Incineration Plant

This article examines the correlation between the amount of pollutants emitted from medical waste incinerator plant and the number of COVID-19 infections, based on the example of Podlaskie Voivodeship in Poland. This paper deals with the issues of medical waste management during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thermal processing is characterised as a method of medical waste utilisation. The technological sequence of the medical waste incineration installation and the integrated exhaust gas cleaning system are discussed. The results of studies on the emission of pollutants into the atmosphere during combustion are compared with the number of COVID-19 cases in the same voivodeship to investigate how the coronavirus pandemic affects the amount of medical waste generated, thus the amount of pollutants emitted into the atmosphere. The Pearson's linear correlation coefficient and the Student's t-test are used to verify the results. The analysis results show a statistically significant, moderate positive correlation between the amount of covid waste and the number of COVID-19 cases (0.5140). In turn, there is also a statistically significant moderate correlation between the number of COVID-19 cases and emissions of SO2 (r = 0.6256, p = 0.010), NOx (0.5019, p = 0.048), and HCl (0.5130, p = 0.042). This correlation finding highlights additional costs to the environment and public health as the number of COVID-19 cases increase, which can be taken into account for pandemic planning by governments in the future.

Comprehensive review on medical waste incineration

Comprehensive review on medical waste incineration

Diagnostic Analysis of Mechanical Conditions of Small-Scale Incinerators in the Healthcare Facilities in Tanzania

This paper provides analytical diagnosis of mechanical conditions of medical waste incinerators used for healthcare waste (HCW) treatment in Tanzania. The main features assessed were types of incinerators, features of incinerators and incinerator house. The assessment was conducted in three levels of health care facilities (HCFs), that is, Regional, district hospitals and health centers, existed in 26 regions of Tanzania. Questionnaires, interview and checklists were used as tools for data collection. It was observed that High-Tech incinerators are mainly used in regional hospitals, while district hospital and health center use both High-Tech and De-Montfort incinerators. About 60% of the incinerators have defective doors. More than 55% of incinerators are corroded in regional and district hospitals. The chimney, top plates and grate which are good condition are 55.6% and 60% in regional hospitals and health centers, respectively. The situation is below 50% in district hospitals. The leakage of the roof and loose structures were observed in district hospitals and health center to be more than 50% of the incinerator houses. On other hand, the performance of burners and incinerator housing cleanliness are generally good. It was concluded that the incinerators in the HCFs are in bad conditions, necessitating maintenance.

Pengaruh Tekanan Blower pada Proses Pembakaran Sampah Medis Menggunakan Insinerator Statis terhadap Kualitas Abu

Medical waste generated from the activities of hospitals or other health facilities is very dangerous and can cause health problems for humans. One way of processing medical waste is by using an incinerator. This study aims to determine the effect of blower pressure on the medical waste incineration process on the levels of Cadmium (Cd), Chromium VI (Cr⁺⁶), and Lead (Pb) in the ash residue based on the TCLP test. The method applied is to weigh 300 kg of medical waste and then burn it in an incinerator with a blower pressure variation of 10 and 30 mbar at an optimal temperature of 1,200 °C. The results showed that the best TCLP test with a blower pressure of 10 mbar was Cd of 0.411 mg/L in experiment 2, Cr⁺⁶ of 0.143 mg/L in experiment 2, and Pb of 59.4 mg/L in experiment 3. Meanwhile, the results of the best TCLP test in Experiment 3 with a blower pressure of 30 mbar are Cd of 0.34 mg/L, Cr⁺⁶ of 0.098 mg/L, and Pb of 42.2 mg/L. The results showed that the levels of Cd and Cr+6 had met the environmental quality standards, while the Pb levels had not met the required environmental quality standards.

Effects of medical waste incineration fly ash on the promotion of heavy metal chlorination volatilization from incineration residues

High contents of heavy metals and Cl are major challenges for incineration residue disposal. Classification by the Chinese government and the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic have changed the characteristics of incineration residues, thereby increasing the difficulty of disposal. In this study, medical waste incineration fly ash (MWI FA) was proposed as an additive to promote chlorination volatilization of heavy metals from municipal solid waste incineration fly ash (MSWI FA) and medical waste incineration slag (MWI S). When the mixing ratio of MWI FA to MSWI FA was 1:3, the chlorination volatilization efficiencies of Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd at 1000 °C for 60 min were 50.2%, 99.4%, 99.7%, and 97.9%, respectively. When MWI FA was mixed with MWI S at a ratio of 1:1, the chlorination volatilization efficiencies of Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd at 1200 °C for 40 min were 88.9%, 99.7%, 97.3%, and 100%, respectively. Adding MWI FA can replenish Cl in MSWI FA and MWI S while increasing the surface area and forming pore structures by sublimation of NaCl and decomposition of CaSO4, or can reduce the melting point and viscosity by Na2O destroying the glass matrix. Therefore, MWI FA can be co-disposed with MSWI FA and MWI S respectively to enhance the chlorination volatilization of heavy metals.

Investigations on hot corrosion resistance of bare and nickel chromium coated superni 76 super alloy

The present work mainly focuses on the behaviour of bare and coated nickel super alloy Superni-76 with respect to hot corrosion when subjected to a high temperature of 900 °C in Na2SO4-60%V2O5 molten salt environment. The current study is conducted to create and analyse the behaviour of samples under simulated conditions that the construction materials bear while working under actual medical waste Incineration operation. The complete study was conducted for 50 cycles and both the samples, bare and coated, got weighted after each cycle to obtain the corrosion study by thermogravimetric technique. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) was utilised to analyse the surface morphology of the samples. The coated sample showed good results as compared to uncoated samples. The material spallation clearly defines the corrosion occurrence in uncoated sample with high levels of corrosion exposure.

Experimental & Numerical study on COVID-19 Waste Treatment Using a Gasification Type Incinerator: Laboratory Scale

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of personal protective equipment in the community has contributed to the increasing amount of medical waste. Medical waste from the COVID-19 pandemic is classified as infectious medical waste which is waste related to patients who need isolation from infectious diseases. one of the solutions offered is a medical waste incinerator. By studying the medical waste incinerator model in the hospital, the researchers finally took the initiative to do a simple incinerator design. the incinerator to be used is updraft gasifier type. It is hoped that the use of this incinerator will be able to solve the existing medical waste problem. In this study, the researchers use experemental approach to get the basic data from the reactor. After gain the data, then the researcher use numerical approach which is using ansys softwere to get a better look of the temperature contour on the rector. From both study, researcher can conclude tha it would take an upgrade on the existing blower to incenerate the medical waste on a safely temperature.

Medical Peat Waste Upcycling to Carbonized Solid Fuel in the Torrefaction Process

Peat is the main type of peloid used in Polish cosmetic/healing spa facilities. Depending on treatment and origin, peat waste can be contaminated microbiologically, and as a result, it must be incinerated in medical waste incineration plants without energy recovery (local law). Such a situation leads to peat waste management costs increase. Therefore, in this work, we checked the possibility of peat waste upcycling to carbonized solid fuel (CSF) using torrefaction. Torrefaction is a thermal treatment process that removes microbiological contamination and improves the fuel properties of peat waste. In this work, the torrefaction conditions (temperature and time) on CSF quality were tested. Parallelly, peat decomposition kinetics using TGA and torrefaction kinetics with lifetime prediction using macro-TGA were determined. Furthermore, torrefaction theoretical mass and energy balance were determined. The results were compared with reference material (wood), and as a result, obtained data can be used to adjust currently used wood torrefaction technologies for peat torrefaction. The results show that torrefaction improves the high heating value of peat waste from 19.0 to 21.3 MJ × kg−1, peat main decomposition takes place at 200–550 °C following second reaction order (n = 2), with an activation energy of 33.34 kJ × mol−1, and pre-exponential factor of 4.40 × 10−1 s−1. Moreover, differential scanning calorimetry analysis revealed that peat torrefaction required slightly more energy than wood torrefaction, and macro-TGA showed that peat torrefaction has lower torrefaction constant reaction rates (k) than wood 1.05 × 10−5–3.15 × 10−5 vs. 1.43 × 10−5–7.25 × 10−5 s−1.

Energy, environment and economy assessment of medical waste disposal technologies in China

Medical waste (MW) has exploded since the COVID-19 pandemic and aroused great concern to MW disposal. Meanwhile, the energy recovery for MW disposal is necessary due to high heat value of MW. Harmless disposal of MW with economically and environmentally sustainable technologies along with higher energy recovery is urgently required, and their energy recovery efficiencies and environmental impacts reduction due to energy recovery are key issues. In this study, five MW disposal technologies, i.e. rotary kiln incineration, pyrolysis incineration, plasma melting, steam sterilization and microwave sterilization, were evaluated and compared via energy recovery analysis (ERA), life cycle assessment (LCA), and life cycle costing (LCC) methods. Furthermore, three MW incineration technologies with further energy recovery and two sterilization followed by co-incineration technologies were analyzed to explore their improvement potential of energy recovery and environment benefits via scenario analysis. ERA results reveal that the energy recovery efficiencies of “steam and microwave sterilization + incineration” are the highest (≥83.4%), while that of the plasma melting is the lowest (19.2%). LCA results show that “microwave sterilization + landfill” outperforms others while the plasma melting exhibits the worst, electricity is the most significant contributor to the environmental impacts of five technologies. Scenario analysis shows that the overall environmental impact of all technologies reduced by at least 45% after further heat utilization. LCC results demonstrate that pyrolysis incineration delivers the lowest economic cost, while plasma melting is the highest. Co-incineration of sterilized MW and municipal solid waste could be recommended.

Experimental method for the assessment and characterization of hazardous waste for long-term storage

Long-term landfilling of hazardous waste should be a careful choice for any producer or generator of waste, as the behavior of the waste is different due to the physical-chemical conditions or following contact with other hazardous waste. In this study, the research undertaken was aimed at developing an experimental method for the assessment and characterization of hazardous waste for long-term storage. The method consists in the assessment of the behavior of heavy metals from waste, under different leaching conditions. To study various hazardous wastes, fly ash from the incineration of medical waste and slag from aluminum casting were chosen. Contact time, pH and redox potential are important parameters in the leaching process. The solubility of metals increases at pH values between 2 - 5 pH units and decreases at pH values between 6-12 pH units. The highest solubility of metals (As, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb and Zn) in the tested waste was obtained after 48 hours at pH values between 2 - 5 pH units. Also, the values of the redox potential decrease almost linearly as the pH value increases. The developed method is a useful tool to assess the behavior of hazardous waste for long-term storage in landfills for this category of wastes.

A theoretical study on the mass input and output and energy of the biomedical waste incinerator

Medical waste production has increased with many government and private hospitals and health centres due to the increase in the population, especially in the spread of Coronavirus Covid-19. This increase in medical waste is treating in medical incinerators. One of the advantages of incineration is the reduction of volume, weight and energy recovery. This paper examines the medical waste incinerator of one of the Medical City hospitals in Baghdad, as this incinerator internally divided into primary and secondary chambers. The medical waste for yellow bags placed in the primary chamber is burned with the help of air and a burner of 178-356 kW, resulting in waste burned. Then the combustion products pass through the secondary chamber, wherewith air and another burner of 178-356 kW, the combustion of gases and volatile materials from the waste completed. Air is then supplied to the flue gases to dilute the emission concentrations and reduce the flue gas temperature. This paper presents a study on the inputs and outputs of waste, air, fuel and the advantage of the heat quantity generated from the combustion of biomedical waste. As a result of this theoretical work, this incinerator provides an acceptable and durable solution to waste disposal problems and the risks of spreading viruses today.

Bridging the Energy Benefit and POPs Emission Risk from Waste Incineration

SummaryIncineration has been the globally controversial and concerned method of solid waste disposal. Energy recovery and volume reduction are the benefits from waste incineration, but risk due to release of persistent organic pollutants is the major public concern in the world. In this study, the emission of organic pollutants including dioxins and polychlorinated naphthalenes from solid waste incineration in China was comprehensively evaluated, and a relationship between energy benefit and pollutant emission was firstly established. The results show that production of medical and industrial waste was smaller than that of municipal waste but yielded comparable or even higher emission of dioxins. The energy benefit-to-emission index for organic pollutants (EBEIOP) for evaluation of solid waste management on a local or regional scale was proposed. Significant correlations between net energy benefit and pollutant emission for provinces with higher EBEIOP values were found. Furthermore, higher EBEIOP values were associated with economic factors while lower values were influenced by emission from incineration of medical and industrial waste. We suggest that an EBEIOP value of ≥60 can serve as a reference for “profitable” solid waste management, assisting decision making during energy benefit and environmental risk assessment.

Energy, exergy, economic, and environmental analysis of an organic Rankine cycle integrating with infectious medical waste incinerator

This work presents the analysis of energy, economic, environmental (3E), and exergy (4E) impacts for verifying a single implication value of renewable energy technology. An infectious medical waste incinerator combined with an organic Rankine cycle with R-245fa as working fluid is investigated the overall impacts. The experimental energy result are used to analyze an exergy efficiency of the quality level, a life cycle assessment (LCA) under the environmental effect, a levelized cost of the economic perspective, and a 4E decision score. The study results implied that the organic Rankine cycle-incinerator system could manage a refuse-derived fuel type 3 (RDF-3) of 184.42 kg/h from infectious medical waste to produce 23.65 kWe of power at an energy efficiency 0.91%, with at the same time, an exergy efficiency was approximately 0.89%. The LCA was characterized with the use of steel at a single score of approximately 0.00035Pt. The economic value was implied from a levelized energy cost of 0.153 USD/kWh under the 3E model, which was lower than that of a Feed-in Tariff (FiT) model for the solid-waste power plant in Thailand of 0.209 USD/kWh. A levelized exergy costing per life cycle assessment of 0.0000986 USD Pt/kWh2 was investigated under the 4E model.

Field Study on the Emission Characteristics of Micro/Trace Pollutants and Their Correlations from Medical Waste Incineration

This study is carried out in a full-scale (1.25 t/h) medical waste incinerator (MWI), focusing on reduction characteristics of different air pollution control devices (APCDs) on trace pollutants [p...

Concentrations, profiles, emission inventory, and risk assessment of chlorinated benzenes in bottom ash and fly ash of municipal and medical waste incinerators in northern Vietnam.

Concentrations and congener profiles of seven di- to hexachlorinated benzenes (CBzs) were characterized in bottom ash and fly ash samples collected simultaneously from one medical waste incinerator (MEWI) and one municipal waste incinerator (MUWI) in northern Vietnam. Total concentrations of seven CBzs in the fly ash samples ranged from 6.98 to 34.4 (median 19.1) ng g-1 in the MEWI, and ranged from 59.1 to 391 (median 197) ng g-1 in the MUWI. Concentrations of CBzs in the bottom ash samples of the MEWI (median 1.95; range 1.53-5.98 ng g-1) were also lower than those measured in the MUWI samples (median 17.4; range 14.5-42.6 ng g-1). Levels of CBzs in the fly ash samples were significantly higher than concentrations measured in the bottom ash samples, partially indicating the low-temperature catalytic formation of these pollutants in post-combustion zone. In general, higher chlorinated congeners (e.g., hexachlorobenzene, pentachlorobenzene, and 1,2,4,5-tetrachlorobenzene) were more abundant than lower chlorinated compounds. However, compositional profiles of CBzs were different between the ash types and incinerators and even between the same sample types of different sampling days, suggesting that the formation of CBzs in these incinerators is complicated and influenced by many factors. Emission factors and annual emission amounts of CBzs were estimated for the two incinerators by using actually measured data of CBz concentrations in the ash. Daily intake doses and cancer risks of ash-bound CBzs estimated for workers in the two incinerators were generally lower than critical values, but cancer risks caused by other relevant pollutants (e.g., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, and dioxin-related compounds) were not considered.

Determination of phosphorus in different types of waste using the ICP-MS technique

The research aimed to provide an optimized method for the determination of phosphorous concentration in different types of solid waste using inductive coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) technique. The analyzed waste matrices are: a) vegetable waste (P1), b) ash from the incineration of medical waste (P2) c) sewage sludge (P3) and d) sludge from the meat processing industry (P4). The results obtained by the ICP-MS method were compared with the UV-VIS spectrophotometric method for the determination of total phosphorus. In the case of using the colorimetric method by UV-VIS technique, lower results were obtained compared to the ICP-MS method due to the interferences given by the reagents used to determine the total phosphorus. The interferences given by other elements (metals) were also investigated and the performance parameters were determined such as detection limit, quantification limit, recovery and expandend incertainty using ICP-MS technique.