Characterization of PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs emission from combustion of PCB-containing oil in a fluidized-bed incinerator

Emissions of PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs from the combustion of PCB-containing oil in a hazardous waste incinerator are characterized. Flue gas samples are simultaneously taken at three points, including the outlet of ultrasonic wet scrubber, the outlet of heat exchanger and stack. In addition, solid matter samples including incinerator bottom ash, wet scrubber sludge, heat exchanger ash and baghouse ash are also collected. The results indicate that TEQ concentration (PCDD/Fs + dl-PCBs) measured in stack from the combustion of PCB-containing oil is 0.51 ng WHO-TEQ/Nm³. For the solid matter, PCDD/F and dl-PCB concentrations of baghouse ash and wet scrubber sludge are significantly higher than those measured in bottom and heat exchanger ashes. The total removal efficiencies of PCDD/Fs + dl-PCBs achieved with bag filtration (BF) + activated carbon injection (ACI) reaches 65.0%. The emission factors of PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs from incinerating PCB-containing oil are 1.05 and 0.08 ng WHO-TEQ/L, respectively. The overall PCDD/Fs and dl-PCBs destruction efficiencies achieved with fluidized-bed incinerator reach 99.87% and 99.9998%, respectively, which demonstrates that incineration is an effective engineering practice for treating PCB-containing oil. Moreover, this is the first study suggesting the ratios of PCB-114/(PCB-126+ PCB-114) and PCB-157/(PCB-169+ PCB-157) as indicators to distinguish the emission source of dl-PCB from combustion process and technical mixture evaporation in diagnostic ratio analysis.