Would burning plastics be better solution than shredding them, due to the created microplastics?
In: 3
You wouldn’t want to do it as a simple open-air burn, as burning plastic can release a lot of nasty stuff.
That said, you *can* do it very cleanly and depending on the costs and alternatives it may be a better solution. To do it cleanly you need to do a few extra things:
First, you need to make sure the plastic is *completely* combusted. Much of the nasty stuff burning plastic gives off is due to incompletely burned plastic compounds. Furans, dioxins, etc. are all primarily or completely composed of carbon and hydrogen and will burn down to CO2 and H2O under the right conditions. Generally you want to keep the exhaust really hot and inject hot, fresh (i.e., oxygen rich) air directly into it to keep the combustion going to completion. You can also add a catalyst that increases how fast the combustion happens, too, which is what the catalytic converter in a car does (and also why it only works well when it’s hot and why cars have air injectors in their exhaust systems).
Next, you have to deal with some nasty residual stuff even if combustion is entirely completed. Things like PVC, PTFE, some plasticizers, etc. contain halogens (chlorine, fluorine) and other elemental things that have to be remediated. This is usually done by filtering the exhaust with something that captures and traps those sorts of compounds (and sometimes also with stuff that catches any stuff still unburned after the previously-mentioned step).
Then you have to be careful with any remaining solid waste. Dispose of it in a landfill where it will not leach into the surrounding water, etc. just like other gross waste is. Though the remaining ash is generally only a tiny fraction of the original mass, so you need only dispose of a tiny amount of material, making safe disposal much easier.
Latest Answers