Plasma-thermal processing and incineration of wastes in a shaft incinerator with a combustible filtering material

Abstract: The authors report the basic technological principles and the special features of a method of combined plasma-thermal processing and incineration of harmful wastes in a shaft incinerator under a layer of the charge of such a well-filtering and well-combustible material as wood sawdust, which absorbs up to 99% of the aerosols of waste gases by fixing and concentrating them in the ash. A calculated-analytical estimate of the filtration properties of wood sawdust is obtained as a function of its dispersity, the thickness of the charge layer, and the filtration rate of the waste gases. Determination is made of the optimum design relations and the parameters of charging of a filtering material under different conditions of processing of wastes, including moistening and impregnation of wood sawdust by an aqueous solution of sorbents to absorb harmful metals. The calculated results are compared and demonstrate consistency with the data on the filtration properties of wood sawdust in other technologies, including thermal processing of radioactive wastes in a similar shaft incinerator.