Accession Number:

ADA558690

Title:

Emissions from Simulated Open Burning of Deployed US Military Waste

Descriptive Note:

Master's thesis

Corporate Author:

AIR FORCE INST OF TECH WRIGHT-PATTERSON AFB OH SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT

Personal Author(s):

• Woodall, Brian D.

Report Date:

2012-03-22

Pagination or Media Count:

67.0

Abstract:

U.S. military forces have relied primarily on open burning as an expedient method of volume reduction and treatment of solid waste during the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. This study is the first effort to characterize a broad range of pollutants and their emission factors during the burning of military waste and the effects that recycling efforts, namely removing plastics, might have on emissions. Piles of simulated military waste were constructed, burned, and emissions sampled at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPA Open Burn Testing Facility OBTF, Research Triangle Park, NC. Three tests contained polyethylene terephthalate PET 1 or PET plastic water bottles and four did not. Emission factors for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons PAHs, volatile organic compounds VOCs, particulate matter PM10, PM2.5, polychlorinated and polybrominated dioxinsfurans PCDDF and PBDDF, and criteria pollutants were determined and are contained within. The average PCDDF emission factors were 270 ng-toxic equivalency TEQ per kg carbon burned ng-TEQkg Cb, ranging from 35-780 ng-TEQkg Cb. Limited testing suggests that targeted removal of plastic water bottles has no apparent effect on reducing pollutants and may even promote increased emissions.

Descriptors:

• *COMBUSTION
• *EMISSION
• *POLYCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
• AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS
• DIOXINS
• FURANS
• MILITARY APPLICATIONS
• ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
• PILE STRUCTURES
• PLASTICS
• POLLUTANTS
• RECYCLED MATERIALS
• REDUCTION
• REMOVAL
• TEST AND EVALUATION
• TEST FACILITIES
• WASTES

Subject Categories:

• Inorganic Chemistry
• Environmental Health and Safety

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE