Levendis Y A, Atal A, Carlson J B, Quintana M D
College of Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Chemosphere. 2001 Feb-Mar;42(5-7):775-83. doi: 10.1016/s0045-6535(00)00251-4.
This is a laboratory investigation on the emissions from batch combustion of representative infectious ("red bag") medical waste components, such as medical examination latex gloves and sterile cotton pads. Plastics and cloth account for the majority of the red bag wastes by mass and, certainly, by volume. An electrically heated, horizontal muffle furnace was used for batch combustion of small quantities of shredded fuels (0.5-1.5 g) at a gas temperature of approximately 1000 degrees C. The residence time of the post-combustion gases in the furnace was approximately 1 s. At the exit of the furnace, the following emissions were measured: CO, CO2, NOx, particulates and polynuclear aromatic compounds (PACs). The first three gaseous emissions were measured with continuous gas analyzers. Soot and PAC emissions were simultaneously measured by passing the furnace effluent through a filter (to collect condensed-phase PACs) and a bed of XAD-4 adsorbent (to capture gaseous-phase PACs). Analysis involved soxhlet extraction, followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Results were contrasted with previously measured emissions from batch combustion of pulverized coal and tire-derived fuel (TDF) under similar conditions. Results showed that the particulate soot) and cumulative PAC emissions from batch combustion of latex gloves were more than an order of magnitude higher than those from cotton pads. The following values are indicative of the relative trends (but not necessarily absolute values) in emission yields: 26% of the mass of the latex was converted to soot, 11% of which was condensed PAC. Only 2% of the mass of cotton pads was converted to soot, and only 3% of the weight of that soot was condensed PAC. The PAC yields from latex were comparable to those from TDF. The PAC yields from cotton were higher than those from coal. A notable exception to this trend was that the three-ring gas-phase PAC yields from cotton were more significant than those from latex. Emission yields of CO and CO2 from batch combustion of cotton were, respectively, comparable and higher than those from latex, despite the fact that the carbon content of cotton was half that of latex. This is indicative of the more effective combustion of cotton. Nearly all of the mass of carbon of cotton gasified to CO and CO2 while only small fractions of the carbon in latex were converted to CO2 and CO (20% and 10%, respectively). Yields of NOx from batch combustions of latex and cotton accounted for 15% and 12%, respectively, of the mass of fuel nitrogen indicating that more fuel nitrogen was converted to NOx in the former case, possibly due to higher flame temperatures. No SO2 emissions were detected, indicating that during the fuel-rich combustion of latex, its sulfur content was converted to other compounds (such as H2S) or remained in the soot.
这是一项关于典型传染性（“红色垃圾袋”）医疗废物成分（如医用检查乳胶手套和无菌棉垫）批量燃烧排放物的实验室研究。按质量和体积计算，塑料和布料占红色垃圾袋废物的大部分。使用一台电加热卧式马弗炉，在气体温度约为1000摄氏度的条件下对少量切碎的燃料（0.5 - 1.5克）进行批量燃烧。燃烧后气体在炉内的停留时间约为1秒。在炉出口处，测量了以下排放物：一氧化碳（CO）、二氧化碳（CO₂）、氮氧化物（NOₓ）、颗粒物和多环芳烃化合物（PACs）。前三种气体排放物用连续气体分析仪进行测量。通过使炉内流出物通过一个过滤器（收集凝聚相PACs）和一个XAD - 4吸附剂床层（捕获气相PACs），同时测量烟尘和PAC排放物。分析包括索氏提取，随后进行气相色谱 - 质谱联用（GC - MS）。将结果与之前在类似条件下对煤粉和轮胎衍生燃料（TDF）批量燃烧所测量的排放物进行对比。结果表明，乳胶手套批量燃烧产生的颗粒状烟尘和累积PAC排放物比棉垫产生的高出一个数量级以上。以下数值表明了排放产率的相对趋势（但不一定是绝对值）：乳胶质量的26%转化为烟尘，其中11%是凝聚相PAC。棉垫质量中只有2%转化为烟尘，且该烟尘重量中只有3%是凝聚相PAC。乳胶的PAC产率与TDF的相当。棉的PAC产率高于煤的。这一趋势的一个显著例外是，棉的三环气相PAC产率比乳胶的更显著。棉批量燃烧产生的CO和CO₂排放产率分别与乳胶的相当和高于乳胶的，尽管棉的碳含量是乳胶的一半。这表明棉的燃烧更有效。棉中几乎所有的碳质量都气化为CO和CO₂，而乳胶中只有一小部分碳分别转化为CO₂和CO（分别为20%和10%）。乳胶和棉批量燃烧产生的NOₓ产率分别占燃料氮质量的15%和12%，这表明在前一种情况下更多的燃料氮转化为了NOₓ，可能是由于火焰温度更高。未检测到SO₂排放，这表明在乳胶的富燃料燃烧过程中，其硫含量转化为了其他化合物（如H₂S）或留在了烟尘中。
