AT CAD Team/AT incinerator   

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AT incinerator

Having been thinking of the problem of waste, and the fact that a lot of (urban) areas in the developing world simply don't have any good waste disposal system (or otherwise not a very fast one) resulting in leftover waste/buildup of landfills, I was thinking it would be useful that we have an AT incinerator design at Appropedia. Although incinerators have been produced for a long time in "developed countries", I'm not sure whether most allow material recovery in some form or another and another problem of most incinerators is the cost and construction time. I thus promoted a plant that is able to recover (some) material at wikipedia a while ago (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landfill#Reclaiming_materials ). This design however, is only good for developed countries. Ideally, for developing countries, incinerators should be small and modular. This as, as I see things, waste itself shouldn't exist (using the cradle-to-cradle system, and techniques as plastics recovery, ...), but since it has been made anyhow in the past (and since some dirty plastics, too polluted litter piles, ... is incincerated even in AT projects), we need to be able to dispose of it. However, as the incinerator is thus only a method to get things right (and not a device that should stay in place after when the waste has been cleaned up), the incinerator is best kept small (facilitating transportation). One of the best designs which has been made so far is I think the Qinetic PyTEC (see http://www.qinetiq.com/home/newsroom/news_releases_homepage/2009/4th_quarter/pytec_us_army_contract.html ). This design, made initially for the military, could probably be used by us. Besides being modular and small, it also seems to have low preoduction of fumes and the incinerated material can probably be recovered aswell (atleast to a degree, perhaps more if modified). I'm not sure however of the electricity production (this is perhaps best not used as the incinerator needs to be non-permanent). In addition, I'm wondering whether the exhaust pipe can be directed into the soil. This would reduce (eliminate?) sickening fumes (emissions won't be eliminated as the co² goes trough the soil, but this is of little importance as it's a non-permanenent solution). When a location has been cleaned up, the incinerator can be transported to another location (this method will also reduce costs greatly). Perhaps the project can be used as a Medical waste incinerator.

Note that even when a community is fitted with a incinerator, the waste collection should still be handled correctly. The only thing the incinerator should be used for is for things as plastic, ... Waste that has metals, precious resources in them should be seperated in seperate bags and probably sent away for better recycling (ie sent to incinerators that can collect/sift out these materials from the fly ash. See wikipedia "landfill" article.

PS: A simple schematic showing more or less on how the device would be set up can be found at [1]. However, this particular device was initially meant for burning wood/organic material (hereby making biochar), I'm guessing the heat won't be enough to melt other (less-combustible) materials. Also, the "cavity" wouldn't be airtight in the setup of the here discussed incinerator.

[edit] Design requirements

Appearantly, a temperature of 850-1100°C must be attained[1] Bricks can hence be used to built the incinerator[2] Rotary drums seems more frequently used, though are allot more complex/expensive, not always locally buildable

[edit] See also


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