THE USE OF A SECONDARY CATALYST BED TO INCREASE INCINERATOR DESTRUCTION EFFICIENCY

Many incinerators in Texas and the USA are required to achieve 95-99% destruction efficiency. Over time incinerator efficiency may drop due to leaks developing in older equipment, resulting in bypass of catalys t beds or heat exchangers. The use of an additional catalyst bed on th e incinerator exhaust stack is an economical way to boost the efficien cy back to acceptable levels. The secondary catalyst bed is also effic ient in converting CO to CO2 and oxidizing other products of incomplet e combustion (PICs). Following is a case history of a 12 year old inci nerator at IBM-Austin which was retrofitted with a secondary catalyst bed and successfully achieved 99% destruction in VOCs and reduction in PICs by an order of magnitude.