Waste Incinerators

1. Waste Incinerators Sandi Dewberry

2. Renewable Resources • Can be replenished fairly rapidly through natural processes as long as it is not used up faster than it is replaced • Forests, grasslands, wild animals, fresh water, fresh air, and fertile soil

3. Nonrenewable Resources • Exist in a fixed quantity or stock in the earth’s crust • On a time scale of millions to billions of years, geological processes can renew such resources • Humans don’t have that kind of time • Depleted much faster than they are formed as a result of exponential growth in our resource use

4. Incineration - What is it? • A process in which many types of hazardous wastes are heated to high temperatures (up to 2,000⁰C/3,600⁰F) to break them down and convert them to less harmful chemicals or harmless chemicals such as carbon dioxide and water

5. Incineration – How does it work?

6. How does it work? (Cont.)

7. Incineration - Who does it? • Japan and a few European countries incinerate most of their municipal solid waste.

8. Advantages vs. Disadvantages Disadvantages • Expensive to build • Costs more than short-distance hauling to landfills • Difficult to site because of citizen opposition • Some air pollution • Older or poorly managed facilities can release large amounts of air pollution • Output approach that encourages waste production • Can compete with recycling for burnable materials such as newspaper Advantages • Reduces trash volume • Less need for landfills • Low water pollution • Concentrates hazardous substances into ash for burial or use as landfill cover • Sale of energy reduces cost • Modern controls reduce air pollution • Some facilities recover and sell metals

9. More Disadvantages? • Produces highly toxic ash • Must be safely and permanently stored in a landfill especially designed for hazardous waste

10. Perfect Incineration • Ideally, incinerators do not cause problems to the health of the plant workers, environment, or the public.

11. Incineration-Related Vocabulary • Biomass – a diverse source of energy that consists of organic plant materials (such as wood and agricultural waste) and animal wastes that can be burned directly as a solid fuel or converted into gaseous or liquid biofuels

12. 5 Question Quiz • What temperature might incinerators reach? • Give an example of a country that also uses incineration. • Name one benefit of incinerators. • Name one drawback of incinerators. • Ideally doesn’t cause problems to the health of ______, _______, or _______.

13. Incinerator in Huntsville • http://www.swdahsv.org/wtoe.html