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Technologies
VOC Incinerators
VOCs
• Includes pure hydrocarbons and partially
oxidized compounds (organic acids,
aldehydes, ketones)
• There are hunderds of individual
compounds with each with its own
properties and chracteristics
• Combustion processes, various industrial
operations and solvent evaporation are the
main sources
VOC Incineration
• Vapor incinerators are also called thermal
oxidizers and afterburners
• They can be also used successfully for air
polluted with small particles of solids or
liquids.
• Incineration can be used for odor control,
to destroy a toxic compound, or to reduce
the quantity of photochemically reactive
VOCs released to the atmosphere
VOC Incineration
• VOC vapors might be in a concentrated
stream (such as emergency relief gases in
a petroleum refinery) or might be a dilute
mixture in air ( such as from a paint-drying
oven)
• In the case of a dilute fume in air two
methods are used
– Direct thermal incineration
– Catalytic oxidation
VOC Incineration
• In some sources (such as printing presses
or parts-painting stations), emissions need
to be captured by hoods and a common
duct system and routed to a thermal
oxidizer (TO)
• Total VOC reduction in this case depends
on both the destruction efficiency of TO
and capture efficiency
• Total efficiency will be equal to destruction
efficiency times capture efficiency
VOC Incineration
ARS
Levenspiel (1962) presented solutions for the
concentration of all components as a
function of dimensionless reaction time for
various k2/k1 ratios.
The Three T’s
• Temperature
• Time
• Turbulence
For good destruction afterburners should be
designed for temperatures 650-1100 C, for
residence times of 0.2-2 sec, and for flow
velocities of 20-40 ft/sec
Afterburner is now a standart as part of a hazardous
waste incinerators requiring %99.99 destruction
and removal efficiency of the Principal Organic
Hazardous constituents
The Three T’s
• In mathematical sense 3Ts are related to 3
characteristic times:
tC=1/k Chemical time
tr=V/Q=L/u Residence time
tm=L2/De Mixing time
V: Volume of the reaction zone, m3
Q: Flow rate (at T in the afterburner) , m3/s
L: Length of the reaction zone, m
u: gas velocity, m/s
De: effective (turbulent) diffusion coef. m2/s
The Three T’s
Peclet number:
Pe= Mixing time/residence time
Damkohler number:
Da=Residence time/chemical time
If Pe is large and Da is smallmixing is the
rate controlling process in the afterburner
If Pe is small and Da is largechemical
kinetics is the rate controlling process
Predicting VOC Kinetics
• Kinetics are surely important to the proper
desing of an afterburner but kinetic data
are scarce and difficult and costly to obtain
by pilot studies
• So past methods of determining the
desing or operating temperature of an
incinerator were very rough at best
Predicting VOC Kinetics
1. Ross’s Approach
• Ross (1997) summarized the older methods by suggesting Tdesign be set
several hunders degrees (F) above the VOC autoignition temperature
Autoignition T: the temperature at which cobmustible mixtures of the VOC in air
will ignite without an external source
k Ae E / RT
Z ' SyO2 P
A
R'
The activation energy E=-0.00966(MW)+46.1 (From figure 11.6)
Now k can be calculated for any desired temperature.
In an isothermal pluf flow reactor (PFR) the HC destruction efficiency,
the rate constant and the residence time are related as:
[ HC ]out
1 1 e kt r
[ HC ]in
Predicting Overall Kinetics
The destruction of VOC occur quickly relative to CO
destruction
The kinetics of CO destruction have been studied by many
researchers
Howard published the following expression for CO oxidation
(valid for the range of 840-2360 K)
Destruction rate of CO =
1.3(10)14e-30,000/RT{O2}1/2 {H2O}1/2{CO}
Where { }indicates concentration in mol/cm3
This equation can be combined with the VOC kinetic.
Example 11.1
• Estimate the temperature required in an
isothermal plug flow incinerator with a
residence time of 0.5 sec to give 99.5%
destruction of toluene by using 3 methods
given.
Method 1.
autoignition T + 300 F=1026+300 = 1326 F
Example 11.1
e k 0.5 0.995 1
k 0.5 ln( 0.005) 10.6 s 1
E=-0.00966(MW)+46.1
S=16/MW=16/92=0.174
Z’=2.85(10)11
Then calculate A
Z ' SyO2 P 2.85(10)11 (0.174)(0.15)(1)
A 9.07(10)10 s 1
R' 0.08205
Now find T
k Ae E / RT
E 1 45200 1
T 10
995K 1331F
R ln( k / A) 1.987 ln( 10.6 / 9.07(10) )
Catalytic Oxidation
• Catalyst: is an element or a compound that
speeds up a reaction without undergoing
permananet change itself
• Gaseous molecules diffuse to and adsorb
onto the surface of the catalyst
• After reaction product gases desorb and
diffuse back into the bulk gas stream
• The detailed mechanisms of the reaction
are not known but the reaction proceeds
much faster and/or at much lower T
Design Considerations for
Thermal Oxidizers
• The process of a VOC thermal oxidizer
involves selection of
– Operation T
– Residence time
– Sizing the device to achieve those with the
proper flow velocity
Factors:
O2 content
Type of operation (continous or intermittent)
Concentration of VOCs
Design Considerations for
Thermal Oxidizers
• To minimize the cost, it is desirable to keep
the stream to be treated as low as possible
• i.e. Not dilute VOC streams with too much
air
• However most insurance regulations limit
the max VOC concentraiton to 25% of the
lower explosive limit (LEL) of the VOC
LEL and UEL Limits
LEL and UEL Limits
Design Considerations for
Thermal Oxidizers
Organic LEL (% by volume in air)
Acetone 2.15
Benzene 1.4
Ethane 3.2
Ethanol 3.3
Methane 5
Propane 2.4
Toluene 1.3
Design Considerations for
Thermal Oxidizers
• Material and energy balances are performed
to the device to calculate the flow rate of fuel
gas required to raise the air T at a given flow
rate to the required T.
• 2 Methods
1. The traditional approach: assume an
isothermal plug flow reactor
2. The use of computer program to handle the
calculations and allows for non-isothermal
operation
Method 1. Traditional Approach
• Material and energy balance:
Polluted
Burner air (PA)
air (BA)
Fuel
Gas (G) Exhaust
gas (E)
Burner
Flame Reaction
Mass flow mixing chamber
rates (kg/min) chamber Net heat of
combustion
Material . . . . Lower heating
Balance 0 M G M PA M BA M E value kj/kg
. . . . .
0 M PA h PA M G hG M BA h BA M E hE M G (H c )G
Energy
.
M VOCi (H c )VOCi X i qL
Balance h: Specific enthalpy kj/kg
Xi:Fractional conversion of VOCi
Method 1. Traditional Approach
• If we assume that enthalpy functions of all
streams similar to those for pure air and
consider all heat losses (qL)as a simple
fraction of the heat input (fL):
. . . . .
0 M PA hTPA M G hTG M BA hTBA M E hTE M G (H c )G (1 f L )
.
M VOCi (H c )VOCi X i (1 f L )
. . . .
0 M G M PA M BA M E
. . .
. M PA (hTE hTPA ) M BA (hTE hTBA ) M VOCi (H c )VOCi X i (1 f L )
MG
(H c )G (1 f L ) (hTE hTG )
Method 1. Traditional Approach
• Fuel gas is mixed with the outside ambient air
in a preset ratio Rb, then MBA=RBMG, also T of
burner air equals to T of fuel gas then the
equation takes its final form:
. .
. M PA (hTE hTPA ) M VOCi (H c )VOCi X i (1 f L )
MG
(H c )G (1 f L ) ( RB 1)( hTE hTBA )
Example 11.2
• Calculate the mass flow rate of CH4 required for an afterburner
to treat 2645 acfm of polluted air. It is estimated that the burner
will bring in 200 scfm of ouside air. The fuel gas enters at 80 F
and the burner air enters at 80 F. The lower heating value
(LHV) of CH4 is 21560 Btu/lb. Assume 10% overall heat loss
and ignore any heat gained by the oxidation of the pollutants.
• SOLUTION
From Appendix Table B.2, densities of the inlet PA and BA are
0.060 and 0.074 lb/ft3.
MPA = 2465 acfm (0.060 lb/acf)=148 lb/min
MBA = 200 scfm (0.074 lb/acf)=14.8 lb/min
Appendix Table B.7 enthalpies:
hTE= 328 hTBA= 4.8 hTBA= 33.6 hTG= 4.8
Example 11.2
SOLUTION
MPA = 2465 acfm (0.060 lb/acf)=148 lb/min
MBA = 200 scfm (0.074 lb/acf)=14.8 lb/min
hTE= 328 hTBA= 4.8 hTBA= 33.6 hTG= 4.8 Btu/lb
fL:0.1
. . .
. M PA (hTE hTPA ) M BA (hTE hTBA ) M VOCi (H c )VOCi X i (1 f L )
MG
(H c )G (1 f L ) (hTE hTG )
MG = 2.53 lb/min
Sizing the Device
• To ensure adequate mixing and to
approach the condition of plug flow a
linear velocity of 20-40 ft/sec
recommended
• Usually the residence time 0.4-0.9 sec is
enough
• For hazardous waste incinerator residence
time must be 2 sec or longer
• For biomedical waste incinerator
residence time must be 1 sec or longer
Sizing the Device
• Length of the reaction chamber (L) is given by
– L=utr
• The volumetric flow rate (Q)from the ideal gas
.
law: M E RTE
QE
P( MW ) E
• The diameter of the chamber (D)
.
4QE
D
u
Example 11.3
• Specify the length and the diameter of the
afterburner of Example 11.2 given that the
design velocity in the main chamber is 15
ft/sec and the desired residence time is 1
sec
Solution
• Length of the reaction chamber
L=utr=15(1.0) = 15 ft
ME=148+14.8+2.5=165 lb/min
• The volumetric flow rate (Q)from the ideal gas
law: .
M E RTE (165)(0.73)(1810)
QE 7790 ft 3 / min
P( MW ) E 1.0(28)