INCINERATION

INCINERATOR

• The incinerator installed at Thane has two chambers.
• Primary Chamber is designed to burn the waste at 800 Deg C.
• Secondary Chamber is designed to burn the waste at 1050 Deg C.
• The incinerator has oil fired burners.
• The incinerator is designed for operation under excess air conditions.
• Combustion under excess air conditions ensures complete destruction of dioxins and furans and produces smokeless flue gases.

SPECIFICATIONS OF INCINERATORATOR AT THANE

• Capacity: 50 kg/hr.
• Fuel:         LDO
• Type of burner operation: Automatic
• Operating Hours: continuous
• Residence time of gases secondary chamber:1 sec
• Stack height: 30 m.
• Stack top diameter: 250 mm
• It has two distinct chambers with separate burners.

FEATURES OF INCINERATOR AT THANE

• Biomedical waste is charged into the incinerator from a charging door provided in front of the incinerator’s primary chamber.
• The Incinerator is pre-fired for complete and fast destruction. The waste is charged into the incinerator only after the desired temperatures are attained in both the chambers.
• The incinerator is always maintained under a negative draft. This prevents the escape of hot gases when the incinerator is being charged and ensures complete waste destruction without either smoke of odor.
• Normal warm-up time under cold start conditions is around 1to1and1/2 hour.

     Quality assurance and quality control

Pollution control
Controlling feed material: Feed material is controlled by establishing procedures that eliminate the use of certain materials, specifying segregation of wastes at the point of origin, or removing problem materials from the waste prior to incineration.
Combustion control:   Complete combustion of combustible material requires adequate temperatures, excess air, turbulence, mixing, and retention time. These factors are maintained to achieve improved combustion and lower emissions of particulate matter, organics and carbon monoxide.
The venturi scrubber is designed to capture both sub micron particulate matter and acid gases. Absorbed acid gases are neutralized with sodium hydroxide. Hydrochloric acid and sulfur dioxide collected in the scrubber react with sodium hydroxide to produce sodium chloride and sodium sulfite in an aqueous solution.

ORGANIZATION
Rapid urbanization in developing countries is throwing up new challenges. It is necessary for the policy makers to recognize them and act proactively. The possibility of spread of epidemic in densely populated areas is one such challenge. To meet it appropriately the government of India passed a law regarding disposal of biomedical waste. To pass a law is one thing but to create a desire among people concerned to implement it is another. Here the nongovernmental organizations who understand the implications of law have a role to play.
Envirovigil, a Thane based organization recognized the need to spread such awareness and decided to act. The core members of the group were doctors, scientists, professors, who studied the law first. They then convened the meeting of local doctors to explain to them the need to come together and abide by the law. It was attended by many local doctors. The legal advisor of pollution control board also made it a point to attend it and explained the implications of the law and how it puts the onus of disposal of biomedical waste on the creator of the waste.
As a follow up action volunteers of Envirovigil contacted all the hospitals of Thane and collected information about the quantum of biomedical waste created by each of them and presented the data to the municipal commissioner of Thane. He appreciated the effort and urged the organizers to set up a common biomedical waste disposal facility. It was not a very popular cause at that time. It also required taking a big financial risk. After much deliberation the activists of Enviro vigil decided to take the challenge and after overcoming many hurdles succeeded in establishing such a centre at Kalwa with support from Thane Municipal Corporation.