REFORMING AND GASIFICATION TECHNOLOGY FOR THE DESTRUCTION OF WASTES

It is known that conventional waste incineration processes often lead to the formation of highly toxic substances such as dioxins and furans . These substances form during the combustion of wastes that typically contain chlorine and organic matter. A burner facility was designed a nd fabricated to study the basic reaction mechanisms and the formation of toxins. The facility will allow the adaption of reforming and gasi fication technology to prevent toxin formation. A flat-flame burner wa s chosen to provide a very simple flame geometry while retaining flexi bility of reaction conditions. Computer modeling is provided for both the thermodynamics and the kinetics of the chemical reactions in the f lame. Two computer codes have been found to be appropriate and have be en obtained for this study, CHEMKIN and NASA SP-273. Both are operatio nal, and results have been obtained for example computations of the fo rmation rates of CO2, CO, and H-2. Recommendations are made for tests employing trichloroethylene, air, and methane/benzene mixtures with an d without steam addition to provide data for further modeling and inve stigation.