Comparison of PCDD and PCDF emissions from hog fuel boilers and hospital waste incinerators

A pilot-scale incinerator with a nominal capacity of 50kg/h was successfully used to simulate PCDD and PCDF emissions from hog fuel boilers processing NaCl contaminated bark. With 0.76 wt.% chlorine in the bark, about 50 and 100 ng/m3 of total PCDD, total PCDF were detected. The corresponding PCDD an PCDF values for the uncontaminated control bark were 0.3 and 0.3 ng/m3. The Toxicity Equivalent (TEQ) for the 0.76 wt.% salt contaminated bark combustion was 3 ng/m3 as compared to the control value of 0.02 ng/m3. The PCDD and PCDF homologue distributions as well as the fractions of 2378-substituted PCDD and PCDF isomers in each group were examined. The data was found to agree well with the available field data from literature. Next, the contaminated bark combustion data was compared with the PCDD and PCDF emission data from hospital waste incinerators. It was found that although the 2378-substituted isomers patterns in the case of bark combustion and hospital waste incineration follow the same trend, the patterns for the PCDD and PCDF homologue distributions in these two cases are different.