Incineration

Incineration is a process by which waste, particularly the non-biodegradable materials, toxic or contaminants, are burned in a high oven, at a very high temperature (above 1000 º C),and being the final products of incineration of organic material, non –biodegradable, carbon dioxide, water vapour and heat energy. The garbage can be incinerated in a central specially constructed for this purpose or through the use of a high furnace of the cement and metallurgical industry of co-incineration.

Advantages of co-incineration:
- The cost of treatment per ton is about three times lower;
- The rate of destruction is higher than that of the incinerators, due to temperatures in the high furnaces of cement to about 1450 º C or more (about 2000 º C), near the area of flame, far higher than 1200 º C of the incinerator;
- Does not occur production of solid wastes, because of the ash from the combustion of waste being dissolved in the structure of the cement, while in the traditional process it would have to be deposited in a landfill;
- You do not need a complementary treatment of gases, nor is the production of liquid or sludge, due to the cement kilns it has a natural alkaline environment, resulting from the use of limestone as raw material, therefore natural gas washers, neutralizing its acidity.

Disadvantages of incineration in cement:
- The ovens do not a homogeneous distribution of temperature, presenting a hot tip near the flame and a cold end in the opposite side, not ensuring that it does not completely avoid the unwanted formation of toxic compounds such as dioxins;
- Emission of gases by cement kilns are below those required for the incineration plants;
- When the operations are stopped, the filters no longer work and release the gases without no treatment, by the chimney, since the filter sleeves, to retain the dust, are unable to retain more volatile gases, such as mercury;
- The study of the effects in terms of public health, of the incorporation of slag from the incineration in cement, are not fully conclusive, it is still unknown their total toxicity.

Advantages of waste incineration:
- The dramatic reduction of space / volume occupied by garbage;
- The elimination of bacterial and viral contamination;
- The decrease in the amount of land to be mobilized for the construction of landfills;
- Reduction of contamination of soil and water due to runoff resulting from accumulated waste;
- The profitable energy waste, since the heat resulting from their burning can be used for heating and production of electricity;
- The quick disposal of hazardous waste;
- The combustion gases are free of dust and neutralized, which does not happen in the open air dumps;
- In the case of co-incineration, the reduction of the amount of raw material and fuel that must be used for the production of cement.

While the burning is not, for now, a completely clean process it is at least the process most efficient in the elimination of certain hazardous wastes and reduction of the volume of garbage accumulated, and also to its energy recovery. However, it should not be considered the single and total solution for the disposal of waste and should be integrated into a comprehensive system of waste management, including the processes of sorting, recycling, composting and safe disposal of waste with (actual) health check.

Source:Diciopédia 2005