Incineration has been used widely for waste disposal, including household, hazardous, and medical wasteâ€"but there is increasing public concern over the benefits of combusting the waste versus the health risk from pollutants emitted during combustion. Waste Incineration and Public Health informs the emerging debate with the most up-to-date information available on incineration, pollution, and human healthâ€"along with expert conclusions and recommendations for further research and improvement of such areas as risk communication. The committee provides details on: Processes involved in incineration and how contaminants are released. Environmental dynamics of contaminants and routes of human exposure. Tools and approaches for assessing possible human health effects. Scientific concerns pertinent to future regulatory actions. The book also examines some of the social, psychological, and economic factors that affect the communities where incineration takes place and addresses the problem of uncertainty and variation in predicting the health effects of incineration processes.

Gasification of Waste Materials: Technologies for Generating Energy, Gas and Chemicals from MSW, Biomass, Non-recycled Plastics, Sludges and Wet Solid Wastes explores the most recent gasification technologies developing worldwide to convert waste solids to energy and synthesis gas and chemical products. The authors examine the thermodynamic aspects, accepted reaction mechanisms and kinetic constraints of using municipal solid waste (MSW), biomass, non-recycled plastics (NRP), sludges and wet solid wastes as feedstock. They identify the distinctions between pyrolysis, gasification, plasma, hydrothermal gasification, and supercritical systems. A comprehensive summary of laboratory and demonstration activities is presented, as well as field scale systems that have been in operation using solid waste streams as input, highlighting their areas of disconnect and alignment. The book also provides a summary of information on emissions from the stack, comparing them with other thermal conversion systems using similar feedstock. It then goes on to assess the areas that must be improved to ensure gasification systems become as successful as combustion systems operating on waste streams, ranging from feedstock processing to gasifier output gas clean-up, downstream system requirements and corrosion. The economics and future projections for waste gasification systems are also discussed. For its consolidation of the current technical knowledge, this text is recommended for engineering researchers, graduate students, industry professionals, municipal engineers and decision makers when planning, designing and deploying waste to energy projects, especially those using MSW as feedstock. Provides field demonstrations of large scale systems, their results and the challenges that need to be overcome when developing commercial applications and possible solutions Presents the most recent technologies in lab and demonstration scale Examines the critical development needs and real life challenges for the deployment of waste to energy technologies Provides information on the economics and sustainability of these technologies, as well as their future perspectives

Increasing global consumerism and population has led to an increase in the levels of waste produced. Waste to energy (WTE) conversion technologies can be employed to convert residual wastes into clean energy, rather than sending these wastes directly to landfill. Waste to energy conversion technology explores the systems, technology and impacts of waste to energy conversion. Part one provides an introduction to WTE conversion and reviews the waste hierarchy and WTE systems options along with the corresponding environmental, regulatory and techno-economic issues facing this technology. Part two goes on to explore further specific aspects of WTE systems, engineering and technology and includes chapters on municipal solid waste (MSW) combustion plants and WTE systems for district heating. Finally, part three highlights pollution control systems for waste to energy technologies. Waste to energy conversion technology is a standard reference book for plant managers, building engineers and consultants requiring an understanding of WTE technologies, and researchers, scientists and academics interested in the field. Reviews the waste hierarchy and waste to energy systems options along with the environmental and social impact of WTE conversion plants Explores the engineering and technology behind WTE systems including considerations of municipal solid waste (MSW) its treatment, combustion and gasification Considers pollution control systems for WTE technologies including the transformation of wast combustion facilities from major polluters to pollution sinks