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Incineration and Incinerators-in-Disguise
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Other Names for Incinerators:
The corporate world knows that incinerators have a bad name. Even the most conventional trash incinerators will often dodge using that title, preferring "Energy-from-Waste," "Waste-to-Energy" or "Trash-to-Steam." In reality, these are really "Waste-OF-Energy" and "Trash-to-Toxic-Ash-and-Toxic-Air-Pollution" facilities.
Here's a list of alternative names for incinerators, processes which include incineration of some sort and incinerator-like processes. Some of these are specific types of incinerators:
- Trash-to-Steam
- Waste-to-Energy (WTE)
- Energy from Waste (EfW)
- Mass Burn
- Fluidized Bed [common types go by the acronyms CFB (circulating fluidized bed) or FBC (fluidized bed combustor)]
- Gasification
- Pyrolysis
- Pyromex
- Plasma Arc
- Catalytic cracking
- Microwave
- Thermal Oxidizer / Thermal Oxidation
- Landfill Gas-to-Energy (LFGTE)
- Flare
- Thermal Depolymerization
- Conversion technologies
- Thermal Treatment
- Advanced Thermal Technologies
- Biomass
- Boiler
- Furnace
- Afterburner
- Cogeneration
- Combined Heat and Power (CHP)
- Cement kilns
- Waste-to-fuel
- Fischer-Tropsch / Gas-to-Liquids (gasification/liquefaction)
- Cellulosic Ethanol (waste-to-ethanol)
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General resources against incineration:
U.S. Trash Incinerator Maps
Incinerator-related issues:
Fluidized Bed Combustors (FBCs)
Incinerators-in-Disguise (Gasification / Plasma / Pyrolysis):
Gasification
Plasma Arc
Cellulosic Ethanol, Fischer-Tropsch Coal-to-Liquids, Thermal Depolymerization and Waste-to-Fuels:
- For many of these alternative types of incinerators and conversion processes (waste-to-fuels), see some of the basic arguments forth in our alternative fuels factsheet.
Tire Incineration:
Biomass and Landfill gas:
Cement Kilns:
Incineration Definitions
The industry tries hard to pretend that plasma, gasification and pyrolysis are not forms of incineration. However, the European Union has defined all these technologies as forms of incineration (emphasis added):
‘incineration plant’ means any stationary or mobile technical unit and equipment dedicated to the thermal treatment of wastes with or without recovery of the combustion heat generated. This includes the incineration by oxidation of waste as well as other thermal treatment processes such as pyrolysis, gasification or plasma processes in so far as the substances resulting from the treatment are subsequently incinerated.
This definition covers the site and the entire incineration plant including all incineration lines, waste reception, storage, on site pretreatment facilities, waste-fuel and air-supply systems, boiler, facilities for the treatment of exhaust gases, on-site facilities for
treatment or storage of residues and waste water, stack, devices and systems for controlling incineration operations, recording and monitoring incineration conditions;
‘co-incineration plant’ means any stationary or mobile plant whose main purpose is the generation of energy or production of material products and:
— which uses wastes as a regular or additional fuel; or
— in which waste is thermally treated for the purpose of disposal.
Source: Article 3 of Directive 2000/76/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 4 on the incineration of waste (see pages 7-8)
For more info on the EU's Waste Incineration Directive, see the UK Environment Agency's website on waste incineration.
The U.S. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) specifically defines a Municipal Waste Combustor (MWC) unit as any device that combusts solid, liquid or gasified municipal solid waste including but not limited to field-erected incinerators (with or without heat recovery), modular incinerators (starved air or excess air), boilers (steam generating units), furnaces (whether suspension-fired, grate-fired, mass-fired or fluidized bed-fired), and gasification/combustion units. This does not include combustion units, engines or other devices that combust landfill gases collected by landfill gas collection systems. [While not regulated as "municipal waste combustors," landfill gas burners have also been referred to as incinerators by those in the industry, the trade press, county waste facility managers, and the federal government's National Renewable Energy Laboratory.]
Also, U.S. EPA Hazardous Waste Regulations (40 CFR 260.10) also state that plasma arc is an incineration technology:
Incinerator means any enclosed device that:
(1) Uses controlled flame combustion and neither meets the criteria for classification as a boiler, sludge dryer, or carbon regeneration unit, nor is listed as an industrial furnace; or
(2) Meets the definition of infrared incinerator or plasma arc incinerator.
Infrared incinerator means any enclosed device that uses electric powered resistance heaters as a source of radiant heat followed by an afterburner using controlled flame combustion and which is not listed as an industrial furnace.
Plasma arc incinerator means any enclosed device using a high intensity electrical discharge or arc as a source of heat followed by an afterburner using controlled flame combustion and which is not listed as an industrial furnace.
Industrial furnace means any of the following enclosed devices that are integral components of manufacturing processes and that use thermal treatment to accomplish recovery of materials or energy:
(1) Cement kilns
(2) Lime kilns
(3) Aggregate kilns
(4) Phosphate kilns
(5) Coke ovens
(6) Blast furnaces
(7) Smelting, melting and refining furnaces (including pyrometallurgical devices such as cupolas, reverberator furnaces, sintering machine, roasters, and foundry furnaces)
(8) Titanium dioxide chloride process oxidation reactors
(9) Methane reforming furnaces
(10) Pulping liquor recovery furnaces
(11) Combustion devices used in the recovery of sulfur values from spent sulfuric acid
(12) Halogen acid furnaces (HAFs) for the production of acid from halogenated hazardous waste generated by chemical production facilities where the furnace is located on the site of a chemical production facility, the acid product has a halogen acid content of at least 3%, the acid product is used in a manufacturing process, and, except for hazardous waste burned as fuel, hazardous waste fed to the furnace has a minimum halogen content of 20% as-generated.
(13) Such other devices as the Administrator may, after notice and comment, add to this list on the basis of one or more of the following factors:
(i) The design and use of the device primarily to accomplish recovery of material products;
(ii) The use of the device to burn or reduce raw materials to make a material product;
(iii) The use of the device to burn or reduce secondary materials as effective substitutes for raw materials, in processes using raw materials as principal feedstocks;
(iv) The use of the device to burn or reduce secondary materials as ingredients in an industrial process to make a material product;
(v) The use of the device in common industrial practice to produce a material product; and
(vi) Other factors, as appropriate.
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http://www.energyjustice.net/incineration/
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