Design and Construction of Gas Filter System for Hospital Incinerators

Abstract

An incinerator is designed to burn combustible waste materials such as municipal solid waste and infectious waste into inert ash. The design reduces waste volumes and subsequently destroys pathogens. A gas filtering unit is designed and constructed for existing incinerators for medical waste treatment. Its main components are a framework whose material is made of galvanized diamond, three wire meshes, made of steel, to serve as filter bed supports, an inlet and 2 sampling holes of diameter 1.5cm beneath the wire meshes, and an outlet and 2 sampling holes of 1.5 cm above the wire meshes. The incorporation of powdered activated charcoal in the filter unit as adsorbent material significantly reduces the emission of harmful pollutants into the atmosphere. As a result, pollution of the environment is minimized. The three charcoal filter beds used in the evaluation study achieved target pollutant reductions in smoke ranging from 2.03 % - 71.85%.  An Air Pollution Control Device with such pollutant reductions should justify the continued use of incinerators if they are properly mounted and secured on the incinerators and can curb the problem of air pollution from point sources.

Keywords: Incinerator, infectious waste, gas filter, activated charcoal, air pollution control device