SITE

Baltimore Maryland

PROBLEM

A major downtown area hospital operates a 700 lb. per day medical waste incinerator that destroys all of the facilities red bag medical waste. The State of Maryland Department of Environment ordered the incinerator shut down because it failed to meet the latest US EPA MACT II air emissions rules for Medical Waste Incinerators. For incinerator operation to continue, a gas cleaning system downstream of the incinerator had to be installed.  The system had to use proven technology and be guaranteed to meet all the stringent emission requirements for particulate matter, acid gases, heavy metals and dioxin compounds. In addition, it had to fit into a very limited footprint, requiring special mechanical and process design considerations.  Since it cost the hospital approximately $20,000 per month to ship the regulated medical waste material to a commercial incineration facility for disposal, the hospital was anxious to continue operating their existing incinerator.

solution

Emtrol custom designed and supplied a specialized multi-stage Condensing Scrubber System to fit compactly in the area directly behind the incinerator. The system consists of a gas quencher, a low-profile gas condenser, a venturi scrubber and a high efficiency mist eliminator. In addition, the system includes an induced draft fan, recirculation pumps, instrumentation, piping and a control panel for complete automatic operation.

The entire system is fabricated of highly corrosion-resistant alloys and thermoplastics to provide a long service life with minimal maintenance. The major components were factory assembled and tested prior to shipment.

result

The Emtrol Condensing Scrubber System went into operation in May, 2002, and a stack test was performed in July, 2002. The system has exceeded all guaranteed emission limits including particulate matter that averaged 0.007 gr/dscf corrected to 7% O₂, less than half the guaranteed level.  The system has operated daily since startup and the hospital continues to save money by incinerating their red bag medical waste onsite.

Once again, Emtrol's knowledge and skill in designing an integrated system has proven to be a reliable and cost effective approach to solving complicated air emission problems.