Approximately 70,000 rail freight cars are dismantled each year for the purpose of salvaging reusable parts, scrap iron, and steel. About half of these cars each contain three to seven tons of wood, which must be removed before the scrap can be reused or recycled. To control or eliminate the pollution from open burning of railroad freight cars to remove the wood, alternatives were investigated and evaluated. A forced-decision model, which produces ordinally weighted scores, was devised to aid in selecting alternatives. Two high-scoring methods were a hooded self-incinerator and high-pressure water jets. Further investigation and phototype development on these two methods were recommended. (Author)

Report (SW-3c)--written for the Bureau of Solid Waste Management under contract no. PH 86-67-100 with Booz, Allen Applied Research, Inc. Master microform held by: NN. Microform master no.: FSN 23,668. Microfiche.