Analysis of Medical Waste Incinerator Performance Based on Fuel Consumption and Cycle Times

Abstract

A detailed assessment of an incinerator based on fuel consumption and cycle time data is presented in this paper. The study was conducted at Temeke district hospital for 22 months consecutively covering 654 days of daily data collection on waste loading rate fuel consumption and cycle times. The composition for the medical waste incinerated varied between 15% and 35% for sharps waste and between 65% and 85% for other waste, with mean values of 25% and 75%, respectively. The results revealed poor performance of the incinerator due to higher fuel consumption (above 30 L/cycle). The incineration cycle times were observed to range between 2 and 4 hours, all of which were too high for the loading rates observed (55 -214 kg). A strong dependency of diesel oil consumption on cycle time was observed due to lack of temperature control leading to continuous fuel flow into the burners. The incineration capacity was very low compared to other incinerators in terms of tons per year. This paper gives an insight on the factors affecting incinerator performance assessed based on diesel oil consumption and cycle times. It can be generalized that the incinerator performance was poor due to several factors ranging from poor incinerator design, operator skills, waste management practices, waste storage practices, etc. The hospital was advised to install a new incinerator with short incineration cycle time (30 -40 minutes) and lower fuel consumption (10 L/cycle) at a loading rate of 200 kg/cycle.

Analysis of Health Workers’ Perceptions on Medical Waste Management in Tanzanian Hospitals

“…Assessing the working conditions for all HWs regarding MWM brings a challenge on their safety and performance (although not part of this study). Treatment of medical waste calls for technical skills and financial resource allocation, while the availability and use of PPE in hospitals forms a large part of HWs' perceptions and which require critical analysis [10]- [12].…”

Analysis of Temperature Profiles and Cycle Time in a Large-Scale Medical Waste Incinerator

“…These units generally include a second chamber (known as double chamber incinerator) which essentially provides the necessary conditions (temperature, time, and turbulence) to achieve complete combustion and to keep the concentration of undesirable compounds to a minimum [12]. The auxiliary fuel for these types of incinerators is diesel whereby, the incinerator is operated in a batch mode [2]. The study involved establishment of temperature profiles during different combustion batches.…”

“…In order to attain perfect incineration, the following conditions must be fulfilled: temperature must be high enough, turbulence in combustion gas mixture should be high and held at this condition for long time (3Ts) [2]. Time is an important aspect for incineration because it will have a great impact on incineration efficiency and fuel consumption.…”

“…The study investigated the performance of the large scale medical waste incinerator based on temperature profiles and cycle time [1] [2]. The area of study was MNH which admits 350,000 patients per month and generates and incinerates on average 900 kg of infectious waste daily.…”

Corrosion Problems in Incinerators and Biomass-Fuel-Fired Boilers

“…Incinerators are widely used to dispose of industrial, hazardous, nonhazardous, commercial, municipal, some agriculture, and hospital wastes [4]. Normally, incinerators are operated at high temperature between 300 ∘ C and 1100 ∘ C based on volume and type of waste, incinerator, and fuel used [5]. In a recent literature it is opined that incineration is a dying technology for waste treatment, as it is unreliable and produces a secondary waste stream more dangerous than the original [6].…”