Assessment of destruction technologies of hazardous chemicals applicable for selected Asian countries | |
| Author | Thipsukon Khumsaeng |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.EV-13-01 |
| Subject(s) | Hazardous wastes Hazardous substances |
| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for thedegree of Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Engineering and Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Dissertation ; no. EV-13-01 |
| Abstract | From the available thermal technologies in Thailand, high temperature incinerator (HTI) and cement kilns (CK), are potentially suitable for destruction technologies of hazardous wastes, particularly stockpile of Persistent Organics Pollutants (POPs). However, Thailand still practices to send the hazardous chemicals for treatment to other nations. To understand the possibility for treatment of POPs and hazardous waste by thermal technologies, this study comparatively evaluated possible impacts to environment from destruction of POPs and hazardous waste in selected Asian countries using high temperature incinerators and cement kilns. Hence physical performances of the thermal systems were analyzed and life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted for overall assessment of environmental impacts by treating hazardous chemicals in Asia.To assess the treatment efficiency, a test burn for obsolete pesticides (OP) of the Permethrin group in a high temperature incinerator (HTI1) was carried out. A total of three test runs were conducted. At first, a baseline run where no OP was fed to the incinerator, and second and third test runs (run 1 and run 2) with different mixtures of OP compoundscontaining chlorine were fed. The unintentionally formed persistent organic pollutants (U-POPs) including 17 dioxins/furans, 12 dioxin-like PCBs and 12 chlorobenzenes (CBs) were monitored in all input materials and all discharge locations (flue gas, scrubbing liquid and solid residues). For test run 1, the total CBs in fly ash was about 53 mg/tonne of waste and CBs stack concentration was 817.02 ng/mP3P. Stack CBs concentration were more than 2,251.6 ng/mP3 Pfor test run 2. From these tests it was found that, emission factors (EF) of CBs in bottom ash and fly ash, were more than 17.6 mg/tonne and 242.4 mg/tonne of waste respectively. The results showed relatively high levels of the U-POPs in the flue gas emission with total dioxins/furans of 4.4, 3.4, and 8.4 ng I-TEQ/mP3P in the baseline, test run 1 and test run 2, respectively. These results were quite higher than both national and international acceptable emission levels. The PCB levels in flue gas were 0.01, 0.3 and 0.4 ng TEQ/mP3P for baseline and the two test runs, respectively. Thus it was observed that the baseline had similar levels U-POPs levels with the OP test run 1 and 2. In test run 2, destruction efficiency (DE) was observed to be greater than 99.0672% and destruction removal efficiency (DRE) was also observed to be greater than 99.998% which were calculated by measuring Permethrin levels in pesticides formula 2. The new finding of this test burn showed that non-POPs pesticides burning, it still have high U-POPs emissions from all discharges. Physical indicators such as sulphur per chlorine (S/Cl) ratio between inhibitors and catalysts of dioxins formation, destruction temperatures, gas retention time, emission of dioxins and other toxic pollutants from the process etc., were considered for both cement kilns and HTIs. DE and DRE from cement kilns and HTIs were taken into account andcompared with international requirements. It was found that treatment efficiency of PCB and insecticides by cement kilns was better than HTIs. The cement kilns had less dioxins emissions in the flue gas while considering all types of wastes co-fuelled, which included PCB oil. LCA was conducted, using Eco-indicator 99, the overall environmental impacts of the treatment methods for various waste scenarios. For normal operation of HTI1, it was found that the discharges from HTI1 on 3 test burn days would cause damage to human health and ecosystem quality significantly, the damage will be more than 2 selected reference days (normal operations of HTI1), by around 40 to 417 times considering 2378-TCDD in air. For cement kiln 2 (CK2), when LCA was conducted for burning PCB oil in cement kilns; showed lower damage to human health, approximately 50-80 times, and iv damage ecosystem quality by around 60-70 times considering 2378-TCDD in air. HCBemission from HTI2 caused 10P6P to 10P8 Ptimes higher damage to human health and around 1.5x10P7P to 5.1x10P7P times higher damage to the ecosystem quality than cement kilns. LCAfor burning insecticides in a cement kiln 3 (CK3) showed lower damage to human health and ecosystem quality, about 1.2 to 3.5 times and 1.3 to 3.7 times, respectively considering 2378-TCDD in air. The damage to human health and ecosystem quality by HCB in air were 1.2 to 2.2 times higher in HTI1 than CK3. All analyses conducted, both physical performance indicators and LCA, showed that co-fuelling in cement kilns would be an appropriate technology for hazardous wastes management in Thailand. Co-fuelling in cement kilns will create less impact on human health and environment, and the technologies are readily available in the country.This study provided for the first time in SEA, a systematic comparison of thermal treatment technologies for PCBs and pesticides. It is further noted that destroying non-POP hazardous chemical in HTI could generate high U-POP levels in all discharge into the environment.Lack of data and inconsistency of the data for the analyses remained as the main limitation of this study. The comparison of thermal technologies should be done for the same waste scenario. The environmental emission data were also not available for all technologies considered that hindered an in-depth analysis for both physical indicators and LCA |
| Year | 2013 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Dissertation ; no. EV-13-01 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Environmental Engineering (EV) |
| Chairperson(s) | Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh |
| Examination Committee(s) | Chongrak Polprasert ;Karstensen, Kare Helge ;Vilas Nitivattananon |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Office of Higher Education Commission (OHEC) ;Development and Promotion of Science and Technology talents project (DPST) ;Chiang Mai University, Thailand |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph.D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2013 |