Destruction of VOC's By Thermal Oxidation

Agardy, Franklin J.; Stilger, John D.; ,

Destruction of VOC's By Thermal Oxidation

by Franklin J. Agardy, In-Process Technology Inc, Sunnyvale, United States,
John D. Stilger, In-Process Technology Inc, Sunnyvale, United States,

Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Environmental Engineering

Abstract:

The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 call for the regulation of 189 air toxics and requires control standard benchmarks of Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT). These emissions are typical of discharges from pharmaceutical, chemical and petrochemical plants as well as the vapor phase resulting from most ground water and soil remediation efforts. The majority of the air toxics will be chlorinated hydrocarbons which represent a significant treatment challenge. Thermal oxidation of chlorinated hydrocarbons under a closely controlled temperature regime offers the best option for the destruction of volatile organic compounds (VOC's) while minimizing the formation of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and products of incomplete combustion (PIC's). Pilot scale tests and full scale operational results of the In-Process Technology (IPT) model FP-100 thermal reactor demonstrate a very high destruction efficiency of chlorinated hydrocarbons with destruction and removal efficiency (DRE) values in excess of 99.99% Compounds including benzene, methyl chloride and carbon tetrachloride, at residence times as low as 0.5 seconds and at temperatures as low as 1600 degrees Fahrenheit have DRE's of 99.99%+. By products of chlorinated compounds such as hydrochloric acid are either scrubbed out, recycled or used to neutralize other waste streams requiring pH control.

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