Destruction of DDT wastes in two preheater/precalciner cement kilns in China

• DDT waste can be effectively destructed by feeding to the flue gas chamber in dry process cement kiln.
• The emissions of PCDD/PCDFs and HCB in the flue gas varied in the range of 0.0019–0.0171 ng I-TEQ/Nm3 and 0.0064–0.0404 μg/Nm3, respectively.
• The emission factor for PCDD/PCDF and HCB varied from 0.0137 to 0.0281 μg/ton and from 17.32 to 109.34 μg/ton of clinker, respectively.
• The uncertainty of a buildup of trace not-destroyed compounds for further study is identified.

The destruction of DDT formulations and DDT contaminated soil was conducted by feeding wastes into the flue gas chamber at the kiln inlet of two different preheater/precalciner cement kilns in China. The concentration of DDT, PCDD/PCDFs and HCB were measured in the flue gas of the main stack, in the solid material under baseline conditions and when feeding DDT-wastes. The destruction efficiency and the destruction and removal efficiency for DDT were in the range of 99.9335%–99.9998% and 99.9984%–99.9999%, respectively. The emissions of PCDD/PCDFs and HCB in the flue gas varied in the range of 0.0019–0.0171 ng I-TEQ/Nm3 and 0.0064–0.0404 μg/Nm3, respectively. The emission factor for PCDD/PCDF and HCB varied from 0.0137 to 0.0281 μg/ton and from 17.32 to 109.34 μg/ton of clinker, respectively. The concentration of PCDD/PCDFs and HCB in solid samples decreased as follows: cement kiln dust, 4.1–5 ng I-TEQ/kg and 0.70–0.71 μg/kg, respectively; > raw meal, 0.82–0.97 ng I-TEQ/kg and 0.18 μg/kg, respectively; > cement clinker, 0.09–0.22 ng I-TEQ/kg and 0.14–0.18 μg/kg, respectively. This study indicates that the feeding of DDT and POPs-wastes to the lower temperature part of a cement kiln system possibly to create a buildup of trace not-destroyed compounds in the system and might cause emissions; the technical feasibility and the environmental acceptability of this practice need to be investigated thoroughly.