Prevention of PCDD/Fs emission from a municipal wastewater sludge incinerator through enhanced control of copper aerosol

Municipal wastewater sludge incineration (MWSI) leads to products of incomplete combustion, including chlorinated species such as dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs). Other pollutants, such as heavy metals (HM), are released too as a consequence of feed traces, which depend on the specific activities of each area. The main aim of this work is to determine whether the early separation of the potential catalysts on the PCDD/Fs formation -HM as copper or zinc-offers a promising way to prevent the emission of these trace pollutants, considering that the current end-of-pipe measures don't ensure their stable emission. Experimental results cover the size distributed target metal contents along the incineration line. These results show a high concentration of copper in the most penetrating aerosol size range of the electrostatic precipitator (0.6 mu m - 1.0 mu m), and how low emission values of both, total and metallic aerosol (mass basis), are compatible with irregular and unexplained outliers of PCDD/Fs emission.