Environment protection from the negative impact of industrial and municipal waste is becoming more and more important. Society development depends on finding solutions to this problem. Waste treatment including medical and chemical waste is solved differently in the world. Thermal destruction is one of the most effective technology. However, waste incineration that is widely used today does not provide ecological solutions leaving toxic residue in the form of ashes and dust that have to be buried.
VNIIETO company run by Mr. Alexander Popov, an academic of The Russian and International Engineering Academies, offers a systematic approach to handling environmental challenges.
Mr.Popov: Institute of Electrothermal Equipment has celebrated its fiftieth anniversary and continues to keep the leading position in the field of thermal processing equipment, metallurgy equipment, new processes of strengthening of materials and creation of new materials. In the recent years, thanks to extensive experience in metallurgy we have gotten to create totally new types of equipment for processing medical, municipal and a variety of industrial products of low and medium toxicity. I can say that at all stages of our work we received financial support for research and development from the Moscow Government through the Moscow Committee of Science and Technology.
Pyroxel waste thermal destruction technology includes the following stages: drying of the waste mixture in a turbine by a flow of high-temperature smoke gases low-temperature pyrolysis, burning of the organic part of waste in the furnace, processing of hard residue in the sludge melt at 1400-1500 degrees C, dividing waste into sludge and metal that are periodically let out of the melting chamber; thermochemical decontamination of smoke gases in a three-stage reactor with a principle of chemical treatment of the gas phase in the afterburning chamber of carbon dioxide and residue carbon at the temperature of 1200 degrees C, in the acid gas neutralization chamber through injection of soda solution, in the chamber of reduction of nitrogen oxides in the presence of urea; sharp cooling of smoke gases to prevent formation of dioxin and utilization of extra heat of the gas phase; cleansing of emitted smoke gases from dust in the sleeve gas filter.
Pyroxel technology has a number of advantages compared to other methods of waste thermal destruction:
- Non-toxic exhaust without using sorbents;
- No toxic residue that needs to be buried;
- Processing of different kinds of waste without their preliminary preparation;
- Production of different useful products – sludge and metal – for further production of construction materials;
- Low investment and maintenance fees.
Kosarev: Pyroxel technology and equipment for waste treatment will allow to create a united production complex “Regional Environmental Center Of the South-West of Moscow”. The center will include several production areas – waste-free principle is their common thing. Products of processing of one area are themselves products for sale or raw materials for processing on another production area. In the end, a variety of products for sale can be received from the waste coming in for processing into the center.
The First Regional Environmental Center was created on the territory of the joint stock company with an active support of the South-West Moscow Region Administration. The Regional Environmental Center includes:
- Pyroxel thermal destruction area;
- Tires and rubber processing area;
- Coagulant production and halvanic flows decontamination area;
- Halvanic sludge certification;
- Pigment production;
- Snow melting facility;
- Metallic fibers production;
- Pyrocite production;
The main technological part of the center is a thermal destruction facility with the capacity of 25 thousand tons per day. The waste mixture without preliminary sorting is dried in a turbine, burned and processed in a furnace. The emitted gasses are consequently treated in a thermochermical reactor, cooled in a scrubber with the dust removed in a sleeve filter.
Finally, the facility provides ecologically clean exhaust. Tires and rubber decompose and turn into crumbs. Rubber crumbs become a product and metal and textiles go into a thermal chamber.
Waste from metal processing go into the coagulant production area. Ready coagulant is used for halvanic flows cleansing. Sludge from this waste is used for pigment preparation or processing.
Cleansed water can be used for technical needs. The basalt sludge is used for preparing pyrocite – a type of clayite. Metal received from waste processing is used for preparation of metal fibers.
Heat excess coming from the facility can be used for melting snow collected on the city streets: water is dumped and the sludge is processed.
Therefore, Pyrolex technology and equipment provide production of ecologically clean products fit for industrial use and emitted gases cleaned to meet of European standards do not have a harmful impact on the environment.
Pyrolex technology and equipment have passed the state ecological estimation. The production facilities can be set up in urban industrial areas and vacant production areas.
The suggested approach to solving ecological problems both provides normal life in the regions and makes sanitary cleansing economically profitable.