Determination of the thermal efficiency of a modified de-Montfort incinerator for the derivation of the net calorific value of medical waste

2016

English

Waste generated by healthcare activities can be hazardous, hence efficient disposal to eradicate the risk of injuries and infections remains paramount. The efficient utilisation of the energy potential of medical waste during incineration could complement energy from traditional sources. Thus, it is important to determine the heating value of this heterogeneous waste stream. The handling and preparation of a representative sample to determine the heating value using experimental methods such as bomb calorimetry could expose the analyst to a high risk of infection through injury from the sharps. This paper determined the thermal efficiency of a modified De-Montfort incinerator and used the temperature time curves during incineration to estimate the heat recover-able from sharps and infectious medical waste generated from a typical healthcare centre in Ghana. The integrated energy efficiency of the modified De-Montfort intermittent incinerator was 88% and the net calorific value (NCV) of the medical waste was estimated to be 26.15 MJ/kg. There-fore, the energy from the category of medical waste treated in the incinerator could be harnessed for sustainable productive purposes since its heating value extended beyond the benchmark mini-mum NCV of 19 MJ/kg required to realise sustained combustion in a solid fuel.

Oduro, W. O.; Animpong, M. A. B.; Koranteng, J.; Akufo-Kumi, K.; Ampomah-Benefo, K.; Boafo-Mensah, G.; Ankamah, E. F.