Estimating the Characteristics and Emission Factor of Ammonia from Sewage Sludge Incinerator

In the case of sewage sludge, as direct landfilling was recently prohibited, it is treated through incineration. Among the air pollutants discharged through the incineration of sewage sludge, NOx and SOx are considered secondary substances of PM2.5 and are being managed accordingly. However, NH₃, another of the secondary substances of PM2.5, is not well managed, and the amount of NH₃ discharged from sewage sludge incineration facilities has not been calculated. Therefore, in this study, we sought to determine whether NH₃ is discharged in the exhaust gas of a sewage sludge incineration facility, and, when discharged, the NH₃ emission factor was calculated, and the necessity of the development of the emission factor was reviewed. As a result of the study, it was confirmed that the amount of NH₃ discharged from the sewage sludge incineration facility was 0.04 to 4.47 ppm, and the emission factor was calculated as 0.002 kg NH₃/ton. The NH₃ emission factor was compared with the NH₃ emission factor of municipal solid waste proposed by EMEP/EEA (European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme/European Environment Agency) because the NH₃ emission factor of the sewage sludge incineration facility had not been previously determined. As a result of the comparison, the NH₃ emission factor of EMEP/EEA was similar to that of municipal solid waste, confirming the necessity of developing the NH₃ emission factor of the sewage sludge incineration facility. In addition, the evaluation of the uncertainty of the additionally calculated NH₃ emission factor was conducted quantitatively and the uncertainty range was presented for reference. In the future, it is necessary to improve the reliability of the NH₃ emission factor of sewage sludge incineration facilities by performing additional analysis with statistical representation. In addition, the development of NH₃ emission factors for industrial waste incineration facilities should be undertaken.