A major manufacturing facility uses a Rotary Kiln Incinerator (RKI) system to dispose of hazardous and non-hazardous solid, liquid and gaseous wastes generated by their production processes. Over decades of use, the waste constituencies, physical equipment and operating conditions of the system have changed significantly, resulting in reductions in performance and capacity while increasing operational costs. The facility engaged O'Brien & Gere to provide consulting and technical services aimed at improving performance and reducing the operating costs of the system. These efforts resulted in the development of a detailed, user-friendly Mass & Energy Balance software program. This program was custom-designed to model the complex, simultaneous combustion of various solid, liquid and gas phase waste streams and predicts the process conditions, performance and operational cost associated with various components of the RKI system which include the kiln, afterburner, quench, and packed tower scrubber. This custom program was proven by inputting waste stream data captured during previous Trial Burns and daily historical data archives. The model successfully predicted the performance of the system with a high level of accuracy. The proven model was then used to develop new waste feed strategies designed to improve performance while reducing maintenance and operating costs of the system. Results derived from the model indicated that specific modifications to various operating parameters could reduce maintenance costs by as much as $1,000,000 per year. Consequently, a new series of design operating conditions were established and submitted by the owner to the governing regulatory authority for their next confirmatory RCRA Trial Burn.
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