Emissions of PCDDs/DFs and dioxin-like PCBs from small waste incinerators in Korea

This study investigated dioxins in gasses emitted from 50 small waste incinerators in Korea. The concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PCDDs/DFs) ranged from 0.05 to 609.27 ng TEQ N m−3, and those of dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) ranged from 0.02 to 188.46 ng TEQ N m−3. The incineration of 1 ton of waste emitted, on average, 1302.4 μg of PCDDs/DFs and 26.4 μg of dioxin-like PCBs from small municipal waste incinerators and 830.8 μg of PCDDs/DFs and 27.3 μg of dioxin-like PCBs from small hazardous waste incinerators. These values are much higher than those for large incinerators, probably reflecting factors such as poor performance by air pollution control devices, discontinuous operation, and irregular waste feeding. Principal component analysis classified the congener distribution of dioxins from small incinerators into several patterns. In particular, a pattern consisting of a high proportion of dioxin-like PCBs and low proportion of PCDDs/DFs was common for small incinerators but not typical of large incinerators.