The emission of particulate matters and heavy metals from cement kilns - case study: co-incineration of tires in Serbia

Abstract

Co-incineration of wastes started more than 20 years ago. In the last 10 years, the use of alternative fuels in the cement industry is continuously increasing. The use of solid wastes in cement kilns is one of the best technologies for a complete and safe destruction of these wastes, due to the fact that there is a simultaneous benefit of destroying wastes and getting the energy. However, particulate matters (PM) and gaseous chemicals emitted from a source into the environment could be directly transmitted to humans through air inhalation. Therefore, for accurate health risk estimation, the emission of pollutants must be determined. In this work, the analysis of the emission of different pollutants when replacing partially the fuel type used in a cement kiln is done. PM, PM 10 , heavy metals and inorganic pollutants are analyzed. The methods used for sampling and analysis are the standard methods suggested by the EU regulations for stack analysis. Experimental results have shown the encouraging results: in particular clinker characteristics were unmodified, and stack emissions (NO x , SO 2 and CO mainly) were in the case of tires, slightly incremented but remaining almost always below the law imposed limits, and in some cases were even decreased.