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TRANSIENT SUPPRESSION PACKAGING FOR REDUCED EMISSIONS FROM ROTARY KILN INCINERATORS
Citation:
Lemieux*, P, W Linak*, J. McSorley*, AND J. Wendt. TRANSIENT SUPPRESSION PACKAGING FOR REDUCED EMISSIONS FROM ROTARY KILN INCINERATORS. COMBUSTION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 85(1-6):203-216, (1992).
Impact/Purpose:
Information.
Description:
Experiments were performed on a 73 kW rotary kiln incinerator simulator to determine whether innovative waste packaging designs might reduce transient emissions of products of incomplete combustion due to batch charging of containerized liquid surrogate waste compounds bound on ground corncob sorbent. When containers of waste are batch charged into rotary kilns, the rupture of the container is often followed by a very rapid evolution of any volatile compounds contained therein. This flash vaporization/ pyrolysis can result in local depletion of available oxygen, as supplied from the primary burner. This can lead to a transient puff of partially combusted organic material that can pass through the primary combustion chamber, and possibly even through the secondary combustion chamber and/or downstream pollution control equipment. This phenomenon frequently leads to feed rate limitations based on the volatility or heat of combustion of organic liquids inside the containers. EPA's Air and Energy Engineering Research Laboratory has developed a prototype container system designed to partition the waste/sorbenl mixture within the containers that are fed into the rotary kiln. By compartmentalizing the waste, the release of volatile compounds is delayed over a longer period of time than when charging single-chambered containers. Thus, the local depletion of oxygen occurs to a lesser degree, resulting in an overall smaller transient puff. This hypothesis is supported by both experimental results and predictions from a kiln waste release model. Time-integrated measurements of carbon monoxide, total hydrocarbons, and soot have been combined into a single dimensionless indicator of puff magnitude, the Unsatisfied Oxygen Demand (UOD). Initial experiments have determined that it may be possible to dramatically reduce the magnitude (UOD) of transient puffs from batch charging of containerized liquids into rotary kilns by utilizing multi-chambered containers to retard volatilization of liquids from the ruptured container. This concept has potential application as a means to reduce transient emissions from rotary kiln incinerators and industrial furnaces. It also provides a potential means to increase the feed rate of containerized volatile waste compounds without severely depleting available oxygen.
