Memory effect driven emissions of persistent organic pollutants from industrial thermal processes, their implications and management: A review

Blood screening for heavy metals and organic pollutants in cancer patients exposed to toxic waste in southern Italy: A pilot study

“…POPs are widely dispersed environmental contaminants, including, among others, polybrominated‐diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo‐ p ‐dioxins (PCDDs), and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), which are all characterized by resistance to biodegradation, environmental persistence, bioaccumulation in the food chain, and toxicity for human health (El‐Shahawi, Hamza, Bashammakh, & Al‐Saggaf, ; Lee, Kim, Jacobs, & Lee, ). POPs were largely used in the industry, and, despite the ban on their use by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2001, they can still be released into the environment mainly owing to the industrial emission or incineration of municipal and industrial waste (Esposito et al, ; Hung, Katsoyiannis, & Guardans, ; Trivedi & Majumdar, ). The World Health Organization (WHO) raised awareness about POP impact on environment and human health, thus encouraging several studies, which demonstrated the association of the exposure to these compounds with cancer development, reproductive problems, neurobehavioral disorders, abnormalities in fetal development, immune alteration, and disruption of hormones (Darras, ; Gregoraszczuk & Ptak, ; Hardell, Bavel, Lindstrom, Eriksson, & Carlberg, ; Lim et al, ; Tran & Miyake, ).…”

Maintenance strategies and local impact of MSW incinerators

“…The furnace is raised to 400 o C after the first two hours then holds at this point for a further two hours before increasing temperature again at a slower rate to the operating temperature. The polluted emission from the shut-down and start-up process could be explained by the so called "memory effect" which represents a delayed emission of certain persistent organic pollutants (POPs), primarily associated with the particulate phase that gets trapped by impaction, interception or gravity settling on the inner walls of flue gas transfer lines and air pollution control systems or any other post combustion system attached to certain industrial thermal operations [25]. The memory effect manifests during start-up period or during incomplete combustion, even after several hours after the stabilization of the combustion process [26]).…”

“…Some recent studies conducted on boilers from waste incineration revealed that the concentration of PCDD/Fs increased by a whopping > 500 times in bottom ash and 1.6 times in fly ash during start up over the steady state condition in the studied boiler. During shut down, however, the elevation of PCDD/F in bottom ash was marginal and there was an appreciable reduction of concentration in fly ash over steady state condition [25]. It was reported that normal operation and shutdown of an incinerator cause 41% of the annual emissions for PCDD/F attributed to planned start-ups in the operational year for the plant [22].…”

Removal of PCDD/Fs and CBzs by Different Air Pollution Control Devices in MSWIs

“…Wevers et al (1992) found that 71% of PCDD/Fs in the flue gas could be removed by the wet scrubber. However, because of the existence of "memory effects," which typically burden clean flue gas but clean dirty flue gas, increasing concentrations of PCDD/Fs could also be found (Trivedi and Majumdar, 2013). SNCR and SCR technologies are widely used in NO x reduction.…”

“…Bag filters are able to remove solid phase PCDD/Fs attached to particles. However, memory effects on PCDD/Fs were found (Trivedi and Majumdar, 2013). AC is used to remove heavy metals, ultrafine particles, PCDD/Fs and other organic pollutants (Wielgosiński, 2010).…”