Challenges of waste incinerator monitoring

From the emissions monitoring point of view, waste incinerators are probably the most challenging entities to accurately monitor. The scope of hazardous waste fed to incinerators, boilers and industrial furnaces varies a lot. Therefore, the form of the gas varies also. Unlike in settings where only one type of fuel is burned (for example power plants burning just coal), the burning activity is not stable. This in turn makes the whole process less predictable.

Another challenging feature is the corrosive nature of the gas that waste incinerators often produce. In order to keep corrosion out of the monitoring equipment (in other words, making sure the thing won’t break), the gases that are sucked in to the gas analyzer need to be heated to a certain temperature. This in turn requires that the measuring equipment is durable enough to handle the hot gases.

Waste incinerator emissions regulations

All waste incineration plants are governed by strict emissions regulations. All waste burning plants, including small waste incineration plants, have to meet at least the stringent emissions limit, monitoring, waste reception and treatment standards brought in under the Waste Incineration Directive (2000/76/EC) which has been recast into the Industrial Emissions Directive (2010/75/EU).

Examples of gases that waste incineration can produce are:

• carbon dioxide CO2
• nitrogen oxides NOx
• sulphur dioxide SO2
• hydrochloric acid HCI

In addition to the gases mentioned above, heavy metals (e.g. mercury Hg) and fine particles can be released into the atmosphere during waste incineration.

Our two different continuous monitoring systems are:

• The Continuous Emissions Monitoring System CEMS II e offers TÜV and MCERTS certified solution (QAL1) for a wide range of demanding emission monitoring applications. The CEMS II e utilizes Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy FTIR technology. Gasmet CEMS II e is generally used to simultaneously measure the following 16 gases: H₂O, CO₂, CO, N₂O, NO, NO₂, SO₂, HCl, HF, NH₃, CH4, C₂H₆, C₃H₈, C₂H₄, and CH₂O.
• The Continuous Mercury Monitoring systems CMM AutoQAL and CMM have the lowest certified range in the world (0-5 µg/m³). CMM AutoQAL has an automatic and integrated QAL3 validation tool. Systems are perfect for monitoring mercury continuously from hot, wet and corrosive gas streams. The CMM system utilizes Cold Vapor Atomic Fluorescence (CVAF) technology.

We also have a sampling system for dioxin and furans:

• The Dioxin Monitoring system GT90 Dioxin+ MCERTS certified device designed for long-term sampling of dioxin emissions and furans in conformity to the European standard EN1948-1 and EN15267. The system represents the cutting-edge technology for dioxin sampling and fulfills all the requirements of the dioxin measurement standard.

 

Which Gasmet system best suits your emission monitoring needs?

Why choose Gasmet as your emissions monitoring partner?

Gasmet is an ideal partner for waste-to-energy plants. Here are the top 5 reasons why you should choose us as your partner:

• Reduce risks with equipment that satisfy all regulatory requirements
• Save money with minimal maintenance, operational costs and calibration
• Gain longevity of investment with a long lifetime expectancy
• Future-proof your investment. With Gasmet FTIR, if there are additional requirements, you can add new compounds to the measurement setup without costly hardware changes.
• Gasmet has a reputation for providing analytical expertise, supplying quality products and services