Characterisation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in flue gas and residues of a full scale fluidized bed combustor combusting non-hazardous industrial waste

This paper studies the fate of PAHs in full scale incinerators by analysing the concentration of the 16 EPA-PAHs in both the input waste and all the outputs of a full scale Fluidized Bed Combustor (FBC). Of the analysed waste inputs i.e. Waste Water Treatment (WWT) sludge, Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) and Automotive Shredder Residue (ASR), RDF and ASR were the main PAH sources, with phenanthrene, fluoranthene and pyrene being the most important PAHs. In the flue gas sampled at the stack, naphthalene was the only predominant PAH, indicating that the PAHs in FBC’s combustion gas were newly formed and did not remain from the input waste. Of the other outputs, the boiler and fly ash contained no detectable levels of PAHs, whereas the flue gas cleaning residue contained only low concentrations of naphthalene, probably adsorbed from the flue gas. The PAH fingerprint of the bottom ash corresponded rather well to the PAH fingerprint of the RDF and ASR, indicating that the PAHs in this output, in contrast to the other outputs, were mainly remainders from the PAHs in the waste inputs. A PAH mass balance showed that the total PAH input/output ratio of the FBC ranged from about 100 to about 2600 depending on the waste input composition and the obtained combustion conditions. In all cases, the FBC was clearly a net PAH sink.