The Portland cement industry is interested in the utilization of post-consumer carpet as a fuel to replace a portion of its traditional fuels. In response to this interest, the Carpet and Rug Institute, US Department of Energy, Georgia Institute of Technology School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, US Environmental Protection Agency, Lehigh Cement Company, and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Research Committee on Industrial and Municipal Waste are performing a collaborative program to assess the feasibility of using cement kilns for the destruction of post-consumer carpet. This paper reports on the results from cement kiln source sampling activities during two operating conditions: normal operation (firing coal at nominal load) and substituting shredded carpet for 15% of the total fuel value. The pollutants measured include fixed combustion gases, total filterable particulate matter (PM), PM with an aerodynamic diameter smaller than 10 μm (PM10), particle size distributions, halogens, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans, and the RCRA and Clean Air Act metals. The resulting data will be utilized by the collaborating parties to determine the operational, environmental, and economic feasibility of cement kiln co-firing as a strategy for the energy recovery of post-consumer carpet.
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