Test burn with PCB–oil in a local cement kiln in Sri Lanka

Abstract

The production and use of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) have ceased and most developed countries have disposed off their stocks long time ago. PCBs can however still be found in the environment and one important source is accumulated stocks in developing countries. Sound treatment of PCB is costly and most developing countries do not have dedicated hazardous waste incinerators or non-combustion technologies available for domestic disposal and can usually not afford export.

High temperature cement kilns have been used to treat organic hazardous wastes in developed countries for decades and shown to constitute a sound option if well managed and controlled. In contrast to dedicated hazardous waste incinerators and other treatment techniques, cement kilns are already in place in virtually every country and may constitute a treatment option. The objective of this study was therefore to carry out the first test burn with PCB–oil in a developing country cement kiln and to assess its feasibility and destruction performance.

The 3 d test burn demonstrated that the Sri Lankan cement kiln was able to destroy PCB in an irreversible and environmental sound manner without causing any new formation of PCDD/PCDF or HCB. The destruction and removal efficiency (DRE) was better than 99.9999% at the highest PCB feeding rate.