Waste Oil Incinerator: Construction And Working

According to Annex VI of MARPOL 1973/78 Convention of IMO for prevention of air

pollution from ships, the guidelines regarding the waste material storage and disposal of
waste at sea need to be strictly followed.

Incineration of various materials such as galley waste, food scraps, accommodation

waste, linen, cardboard, oil sludge from lubricating oil, fuel oil, bilge and purifier, sewage
sludge etc. is one of the most effective ways of disposal and saving storage capacity of
the ship tanks and waste storage containments on ships.

Moreover, the residue left from the incineration can be easily disposed of off as it mainly
consists of ash.

For all foreign going vessel, an incinerator installed onboard the ship on or after 1
January 2000 must comply with requirements of the standard specifications for
shipboard incinerators developed under resolutions MEPC.76(40) and MEPC.93(45).

The incinerator is designed with a primary combustion chamber for burning W.O oil
and solid waste, and a secondary combustion chamber and an after-burning chamber
for burning un-combusted exhaust gases.
The combustion chambers are equipped with diesel oil burners, called primary burner
and secondary burner respectively.
The inner sluice door is automatically operated.

PRIMARY COMBUSTION CHAMBER

The incinerator is designed to combust solid waste and W.O oil. The heat from the
primary burner will start burning the solid waste and the burner flame ignites the W.O
oil. The very large heat transmission area in the combustion chamber optimizes the
drying and burning of the solid waste.

SECONDARY COMBUSTION CHAMBER

The primary and secondary chamber are separated by a wall made of ceramic heavy
duty refractory. In the secondary combustion chamber and after-burning chamber, any
gases or particles not completely burned from the primary combustion chamber will be
combusted definitively. 
COMPONENTS OF AN INCINERATOR:

1. Charging Door
2. Combustion Chamber
3. Afterburning Chamber
4. Second After burning Chamber     
5. Oil Burner with Built In Pump
6. Ash Cleaning Door
7. Air blower
8. Induced Draught Air Ejector
9. Damper
10. W.O burner
11. Double Wall for Air Cooling

12. Air Inlet nozzle

13. W.O supply tank

14. Mill pump 15. Compressed Air

16. W.O Dosing Pump
17. Heating Element
18. Diesel Oil tank
19. Sluice
Working principle of Incinerator

 The Incinerator is designed with the primary combustion chamber for

burning sludge oil or solid waste, and a secondary combustion chamber for burning
out and uncombusted exhaust gases. 
 The primary combustion chamber is equipped with a primary burner. 
 Diesel oil is supplied to this burner for initial ignition. After this, the sludge
oil is supplied to the main burner until it ignites.

 The primary burner is then switched off either automatically or manually. Atomizing air
is provided to the sludge burner for efficient combustion.
 A pressure regulating valve is provided on the sludge return line to adjust the quantity of
sludge entering the conversion space. 
 The heat from the primary burner will dry out and start burning the solid waste and or
ignite the sludge oil.
 The very large, transmission area in the primary combustion chamber optimizes the
drying and burning of the solid waste.
 In the secondary combustion chamber, the gases from the primary combustion chamber
will burn out.
 A wall made of ceramic heavy duty refractory lining separates the primary and the
secondary combustion chamber.
 In the case of solid garbage or waste, the waste is fed into the incinerator through the
feeding door.
 Note that the primary burner cannot be ignited, if this door is open, the rest of the
combustion process is the same.


The following materials not to be incinerated:

1. Annexe I, II and III cargo residues of the present Convention and related contaminated
packing materials;
2. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)
3. Garbage, as defined in Annex V of the present Convention, containing more than traces
of heavy metals; and refined petroleum products containing halogen compounds
4. Incineration of sewage sludge and sludge oil generated during the normal operation of a
ship may also take place in the main or auxiliary power plant or boilers, but in those cases,
shall not take place inside ports, harbours and estuaries

The following conditions must also be met:

 Personnel responsible for operation of any incinerator shall be trained.

 Manufacturer’s manual for the incinerator shall be available onboard.
 Minimum flue gas temperature is 850 degrees Centigrade.
 The unit shall reach 600 degrees Centigrade within 5 minutes after start up.
 Monitoring of flue gas outlet temperature required.

Incinerators without IMO type approval Certificate or installed before 1st January 2000 can
still be used for burning SLUDGE OIL and solid waste provided this does not contain any
plastic or synthetic materials. In addition to the above, the following criteria must be
established.

 Quantify and designate Sludge preparation tanks for ships using heavy fuels: 2% of
daily consumption.
 Quantify Incinerator use: 1% of the bunker consumption plus 2-3 hours for solid
waste incineration.
 Owners must decide on the number of hours per day that the Incinerator should be
allowed to work. Generally 8-12 hours per day.
 Consideration should be made for ships trading in ECA areas (e.g. Baltic Sea) where
incineration is not allowed. Put up suitable notices.
 Please confirm that your vessel has a manual for the Incinerator.
 The Operator must be trained in the use of the Incinerator by the Chief Engineer and
records of this training must be maintained.
Please keep this information accessible for the daily use of the staff who are assigned to
operate the incinerator.