Incineration can be termed as the most useful technology developed in recent times for waste management purpose. The reason is that the incinerators have the capacity to eliminate almost 99.99% of chemicals from the waste material which it incinerates. This helps in reducing the harmful side effects of today’s waste management practices, which are followed by most of the municipalities around the world. Incinerators basically convert the solid waste material into ashes and flue gases. Thus, it reduces the solid mass of the waste material and helps in making it manageable. There are various kinds of incinerators used all around the world, out of which the most popular types are discussed below:
- Rotary kiln Incinerators:Rotary kiln incinerator are the ones which are most popular in industries nowadays. These incinerating machines are very versatile in their usage as they can be used to process mixed industrial waste and other hazardous waste, which is usually a combination of solid and liquid waste streams along with some other sludge material.
- Fluidized bed incinerators: These are the incinerators which are used in both industry and sewage sludge process. In fluidized bed incinerators, the granular type of solid-state material is converted into a liquid by passing gas or liquid through it. The fluid flows upward in the incinerator and thus helps in getting rid of solid waste particles.
- Liquid injection: A liquid injection incinerator is a special type of incinerator which mainly uses a high pressure to process the liquid waste.It, basically, breaks the liquid into tiny droplets, which makes it easy for the incinerator to combust them.
- Multiple hearth: Multiple hearth incinerator is also known as vertical calciner.These incinerators usually have multiple hearth furnace, which, in turn, consists of several kilns or circular hearths. Multiple hearth incinerators use much complex technology and design as compared to rotary kiln and fluidized bed incinerators.
- Catalytic combustion incinerators: Catalytic combustion incinerators act as a control device for many industries in direct or indirect way.These incinerators oxidize the organic compounds which are of volatile nature, by using a catalyst which speeds up the combustion process.These incinerators are better than the conventional thermal incinerators as these requirelower temperatures to operate.It results in saving a lot of fuel and some other expenses related to the incineration process.
- Waste gas flare incineration: This is one of the most popular types of an incinerator, which is,basically, used to combust the waste gases.These incinerators are used mostly in petroleum refineries, natural gas plants and chemical plants in order to use the most effective way of reducing the toxic effects of waste gases on the environment. These incinerators use the flare stacks as the major incinerator component.
- Direct Flame incinerators: Direct flame incinerators uses a nozzle stabilized direct flame in order to combust the harmful waste gases.These incinerators are becoming a good substitute for thewaste flare gas incinerators in different industries.The gas is made to flow through the direct flame so that it gets heated from its preheat inlet temperature to what we call its ignition temperature.
Above mentioned are the most popular types of incinerators which are used by various different industries around the world. Incineration is literally helping society in tackling the problem of waste management of every type such as large animal incinerator are used to incinerate dead animals and their waste. But still, there is a lot of work to do in making the incineration technology more reliable and cost-efficient.