The paper discusses various factors affecting the performance of a subscale liquid injection incinerator simulator. The mechanisms by which waste escapes incineration within the spray flame are investigated for variations in atomization quality, flame stoichiometry, and the initial waste concentration in the feed. A turbulent spray flame reactor is fired on No. 2 fuel oil which is doped with an equimolar mixture of various compounds, including chloroform, chlorobenzene, acrylonitrile, benzene, and 1,1,1-trichloroethane. In spite of the fact that the compounds all are initially at the same concentration, certain operating conditions repeatedly yield a consistent ranking in the extent of compound destruction. The 'destructability' ranking is important in identifying the mechanisms responsible for compound release. Two mechanisms are identified as potential explanations for the compound release behavior. The findings are applied to the problem of using CO and unburned hydrocarbon emissions as indirect indicators of waste destruction performance. The results also offer insight into the correlation between waste destruction efficiency and initial waste concentration in the feed that has been observed in field data.