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The Relevance of Predictive Techniques to Industrial Combustion and Heat Transfer Problems
Author(s) -
Mullinger P. J.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
developments in chemical engineering and mineral processing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1932-2143
pISSN - 0969-1855
DOI - 10.1002/apj.5500070301
Subject(s) - waste management , combustion , fossil fuel , environmental science , coal , pollution , engineering , chemistry , organic chemistry , ecology , biology
Control of fire is the very foundation of our industrialised society, and whilst most processes will continue to rely on fossil fuel combustion for the foreseeable future, a wide range of organic wastes is being used, and more can potentially be used, to supplement fossil fuels. Landfilling waste liquids such as cleaning solvent, used lubricating oil and hydrocarbon wastes from various manufacturing processes potentially pollute the soil, water courses and the air (by evaporation). By comparison the use of waste liquids as fuel can result in significant environmental benefits and provide cost savings for the plant. Burning these liquids eliminates these sources of pollution and recovers heat for the process ‐ hence saving fossil fuels, such as coal, natural gas and fuel oil, for the future. An effective and low cost technique is to burn wastes directly in suitable process plants. To utilise these resources effectively however requires a good understanding of the combustion and heat transfer processes in the plant to ensure production capacity and emissions are not adversely affected. Successful application of wastes as supplementary fuel requires careful analysis of the effect on plant operation and the environmental impact well ahead of permit applications, or a trial burn. The complexity of the combustion and heat transfer processes make such an analysis technically difficult, but no less essential.