Development of a low-temperature two-stage fluidized bed incinerator for controlling heavy-metal emission in flue gases

•Low temperature two-stage system is developed to control heavy metal.•The different first-stage temperatures affect the combustion efficiency.•Surplus CO was destroyed efficiently by the secondary fluidized bed combustor.•Metal emission in two-stage system is lower than in the traditional system.•Temperature, bed adsorption, and filtration are the main control mechanisms.

This study develops a low-temperature two-stage fluidized bed system for treating municipal solid waste. This new system can decrease the emission of heavy metals, has low construction costs, and can save energy owing to its lower operating temperature. To confirm the treatment efficiency of this system, the combustion efficiency and heavy-metal emission were determined. An artificial waste containing heavy metals (chromium, lead, and cadmium) was used in this study. The tested parameters included first-stage temperature and system gas velocity. Results obtained using a thermogravimetric analyzer with a differential scanning calorimeter indicated that the first-stage temperature should be controlled to at least 400 °C. Although, a large amount of carbon monoxide was emitted after the first stage, it was efficiently consumed in the second. Loss of the ignition values of ash residues were between 0.005% and 0.166%, and they exhibited a negative correlation with temperature and gas velocity. Furthermore, the emission concentration of heavy metals in the two-stage system was lower than that of the traditional one-stage fluidized bed system. The heavy-metal emissions can be decreased by between 16% and 82% using the low-temperature operating process, silica sand adsorption, and the filtration of the secondary stage.

Graphical abstractHeavy-metal emission concentrations in flue gases under different temperatures and gas velocities (dashed line: average of the heavy-metal emission in flue gases in the one-stage fluidized-bed incinerator).Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide