Rotary Kiln Incineration IV. An Indepth Study— Kiln Exit,Transition and Afterburner Sampling During Liquid CCl4 Processing

Detailed temperature and stable species concentration data are presented from the kiln exit, transition section and afterburner of a full-scale incinerator facility firing natural gas/carbon tetrachloride/air. The data are collected as part of a cooperative program involving university, industry and government participation. The overall goal of the program is to develop an understanding and predictive capability for rotary kiln and afterburner performance as influenced by basic design and operational parameters. The data demonstrate that nonuniformities in stable species and temperature exist, under certain operating conditions, at the kiln exit in the vertical direction only. Measurements from the transition section indicate that non-uniformities may exist within this region under certain operating conditions. Flow perturbations from within the kiln can persist into the afterburner, although the degree of nonuniformity is substantially reduced compared to either the kiln or transition sections. High destruction and removal efficiencies were achieved under all operating conditions of these tests through a combination of kiln and secondary combustion processing.     

Indoor Ozone Exposures

Indoor and outdoor ozone concentrations were measured from late May through October at three office buildings with very different ventilation rates. The indoor values closely tracked the outdoor values, and, depending on the ventilation rate, were 20 to 80 percent of those outdoors. The Indoor/outdoor data are adequately described with a mass balance model. The model can also be coupled with reported air exchange rates to estimate indoor/outdoor ratios for other structures. The results from this and previous studies indicate that Indoor concentrations are frequently a significant fraction of outdoor values. These observations, and the fact that most people spend greater than 90 percent of their time indoors, indicate that indoor ozone exposure (concentration × time) is greater than outdoor exposure for many people. Relatively Inexpensive strategies exist to reduce indoor ozone levels, and these could be implemented to reduce the public’s total ozone exposure.     

Polymers as Solid Waste in Municipal Landfills

Abstract

Synthetic polymers reach municipal landfills as components of products such as waste household paints, packaging films, storage containers, carpet fibers, and absorbent sanitary products. Some polymers in consumer products that reach landfills are designed to photodegrade or biodegrade. This article examines the significance of degradable polymers in management of solid waste in municipal landfills. Most landfills are not designed to photodegrade or biodegrade solid waste. Landfill disposal of stable polymers such as polyacrylics and polyethylenes is not associated with significant polymer degradation or mobility. Stability to photodegradation and biodegradation is an advantage when municipal landfills are used for disposal of polymer products as solid waste. Use of landfill disposal can be a responsible means to manage polymer waste and can be part of an overall waste management plan which includes source reduction, recycling, reuse, composting, and waste-to-energy incineration.     

Development of Cleanup Standards at Superfund Sites: An Evaluation of Consistency

The Washington Department of Ecology (WDOE) recently developed a regulatory program for determining cleanup standards at hazardous waste sites. One of WDOE's first tasks in the development of a cleanup standards program was to evaluate how standards have been developed and implemented under Superfund.

The evaluation of cleanup standards revealed: (1) a great deal of variation among sites, both in the magnitude of the standards set for some contaminants and the basis on which they were set, and (2) that there is no consistent decision-making approach for determining how standards should be set. This lack of consistency and guidance has the potential to result in overly stringent or underprotective cleanup requirements and inefficient standard development.

Washington State has adopted an approach that allows for implementing uniform numerical cleanup standards at relatively straightforward sites and provides a process for establishing site-specific cleanup levels at more complex sites. This approach is expected to facilitate development of standards that offer appropriate human health and ecological protection while minimizing private and public sector site management and cleanup costs.     

Rotary Kiln Incineration of Dichloromethane and Xylene: A Comparison of Incinerability Characteristics Under Various Operating Conditions

Comparisons are made, for the first time, between the combustion characteristics of dichloromethane and xylene in an industrial rotary kiln incinerator. The comparisons are made under different operating conditions, including variable kiln rotation rate and operation both with and without turbulence air. Continuous gas composition and temperature measurements and batch gas composition measurements were obtained from two vertical locations hear the exit region of the rotary kiln. The measurements show that there is significant vertical stratification at the exit of the kiln. Addition of turbulence air enhanced combustion conditions throughout the kiln during xylene processing. During dichloromethane processing, however, the addition of turbulence air had minimal effect and only promoted greater bulk mixing; chlorinated compounds transported from the lower kiln during operation with turbulence air were not efficiently processed in the upper kiln. Evolution of test liquids from the bed was not constant but rather was characterized by intermittent peaks. The field-scale data of this work suggest that the evolution rate of the test liquid was increased as kiln rotation rate increased. Many of the differences between xylene and dichloromethane processing during these experiments are explained by a simple stoichiometric analysis.     

Determination of Volatile Organic Compounds in the Atmosphere Using Two Complementary Analysis Techniques

ABSTRACT

During a preliminary field campaign of volatile organic compound (VOC) measurements carried out in an urban area, two complementary analysis techniques were applied to establish the technical and scientific bases for a strategy to monitor and control VOCs and photochemical oxidants in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country. Integrated sampling was conducted using Tenax sorbent tubes and laboratory analysis by gas chromatography, and grab sampling and in situ analysis also were conducted using a portable gas chromatograph. With the first technique, monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons appeared as the compounds with the higher mean concentrations. The second technique allowed the systematic analysis of eight chlorinated and aromatic hydrocarbons. Results of comparing both techniques, as well as the additional information obtained with the second technique, are included.     

Characterization of Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Residues From Facilities with Different Air Pollution Control Systems

Abstract

Municipal Solid Waste incinerator residues produced in two types of facilities were exhaustively characterized: granulometry, mineralogy, chemical composition, leaching behavior, and elemental distribution as a function of particle size. Air Pollution Control (APC) residues coming from a semi-dry scrubber have shown higher solubility than fly ashes originating in an Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP), as well as higher contents in volatile metals (Cd, Hg). Different metal speciation and distribution as a function of particle size have been found in fly ashes (ESP residues) and APC residues. In APC residues, heavy metals (with the exception of Hg) show a parabolic distribution with maxima in the smallest and largest particles, following the same profile as soluble salts. Metal distribution for APC residues exhibits that metals generally are not associated with silicate aluminate matrix. Results show the effect of adding lime to APC residues in metal speciation and distribution.     

Exposure of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Patients to Particulate Matter: Relationships between Personal and Ambient Air Concentrations

ABSTRACT

Most time-series studies of particulate air pollution and acute health outcomes assess exposure of the study population using fixed-site outdoor measurements. To address the issue of exposure misclassification, we evaluate the relationship between ambient particle concentrations and personal exposures of a population expected to be at risk of particle health effects.

Sampling was conducted within the Vancouver metropolitan area during April-September 1998. Sixteen subjects (non-smoking, ages 54-86) with physician-diagnosed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) wore personal PM_{2 5} monitors for seven 24-hr periods, randomly spaced approximately 1.5 weeks apart. Time-activity logs and dwelling characteristics data were also obtained for each subject. Daily 24-hr ambient PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 concentrations were measured at five fixed sites spaced throughout the study region. SO₄ ^2-, which is found almost exclusively in the fine particle fraction and which does not have major indoor sources, was measured in all PM_{2 5} samples as an indicator of accumulation mode particu-late matter of ambient origin.     

The 1999 Fresno Particulate Matter Exposure Studies: Comparison of Community,Outdoor, and Residential PM Mass Measurements

ABSTRACT

Two collaborative studies have been conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) and National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory to determine personal exposures and physiological responses to par-ticulate matter (PM) of elderly persons living in a retirement facility in Fresno, CA. Measurements of PM and other criteria air pollutants were made inside selected individual residences within the retirement facility and at a central outdoor site on the premises. In addition, personal PM exposure monitoring was conducted for a subset of the participants, and ambient PM monitoring data were available for comparison from the NERL PM research monitoring platform in central Fresno. Both a winter (February 1-28, 1999) and a spring (April 19-May 16, 1999) study were completed so that seasonal effects could be