[Technology of waste incineration].

Refuse incineration as one of the methods of controlled waste disposal was introduced as early as the last century. However, in Germany, comparable technologies have only seen moderate attempts up to the middle of this century. The increasing volume of refuse as a result of growing prosperity, as well as new laws for environmental protection made it necessary for the technology of refuse incineration to be restarted or developed further. The technical development of these methods was pushed on the basis of the following prerequisites: The incinerator plants must not give rise to new problems of environmental protection. The plants should operate continuously and ensure waste disposal as complete as possible in the long term. Wherever possible, the energy set free by the incineration process, should be utilized. As a rule, for the incineration of solid refuse modern plants use mechanically actuated grate systems of different design, which in part had been developed from known power-generating plant components. For the destruction of special refuse rotary drum furnaces are prevalently employed. In evaluating the entire system of refuse incineration the following 3 points are worthy of note: The energy produced by incineration is mainly used for the generation of electric current or heat for long-distance supply lines. However, other applications are also possible. For the purification of the exhaust gases originating from incineration, nowadays technical facilities are available for separating out solid substrances and noxious gases. The solid incineration residues can be recycled into the economic system after separation and processing. The state of the art of present refuse incinerators is comparable to that of conventional power generating plants operating on solid fossil fuels. Alternative waste disposal technologies still have to prove their ability to give a comparable performance.