WET EFFLUENTLESS FLUE GAS CLEANING SYSTEM ON A
REGIONAL CHEMICAL WASTE INCINERATION AND ENERGY
RECOVERY SYSTEM IN BIEBESHEIM, GERMANY
William G. Leedy, Jr., Manager, Project Development
Waste Disposal Systems Group
Environmental Elements Corporation
Baltimore, Maryland 21203
INTRODUCTION
Cleaning flue gases from waste combustion processes has received increasing attention both in
the United States and in Europe during recent years. As a result, a number of new flue gas cleaning
technologies have been developed. One such new technology was developed during the mid 1970's
by CIBA-GEIGY in Switzerland. The system which utilizes this technology consists of a spray dryer
reactor vessel in which scrubber effluent is evaporated and the flue gas is cooled, followed by a
cyclone in which the larger particles are separated from the flue gas, followed by a low pressure
venturi quench in which the flue gas is cooled to the saturation point, followed by a packed bed
counter flow scrubber in which hydrogen halides are removed from the flue gas and, finally, followed
by a series of small medium pressure venturi scrubbers in which submicron particles and sulfur oxides
are removed from the flue gas. This flue gas cleaning technology is often referred to as a spray dryer
technology. However, a more accurate title is a wet effluentless flue gas cleaning technology.
There are three principal benefits to this new flue gas cleaning technology. First, it has excellent
submicron particle removal efficiency which is achieved with significantly less energy consumption
than traditional high pressure venturi technologies. Second, the high submicron particle removal
efficiency and the advantages of wet scrubbing are achieved without producing a wet effluent that
often must be treated before it is discharged. Third, it uses less water than most other wet scrubbing
technologies.
The motivation to develop the CIBA-GEIGY wet effluentless flue gas cleaning technology was
derived largely from the demands of the initial application of the technology, a chemical waste rotary
kiln incineration and energy recovery facility owned and operated by Hessische Industriemull-Be-
triebs-GmbH (HIM) of Wiesbaden, Germany. In developing the performance requirements for the
new incineration system, HIM and the German regulatory authorities sought to minimize previously
unregulated heavy metal air emissions and the discharge of wastewater containing high concentrations
of dissolved solids. The successful achievement of these objectives is demonstrated by the better than
predicted performance of the wet effluentless flue gas cleaning system at the HIM facility during its
first two years of operation. As a further demonstration of the success of this new technology, the
German regulatory authorities are revising the air emission regulations to require that all flue gas air
emission sources be treated to a level equal to or better than that achieved by the HIM facility.
The remainder of this paper is dedicated to a brief description of HIM, its facility in Biebesheim,
Germany, the CIBA-GEIGY wet effluentless flue gas cleaning technology, and the operating experience gained during the first two years of operation of the first application of this new technology.
Additional information can be obtained by contacting the Environmental Engineering Division of
Von Roll, Ltd. in Zurich, Switzerland, or the Waste Disposal Systems Group of Environmental Elements Corporation in Baltimore, Maryland.
HESSICHE INDUSTRIEMULL-BETRIEBS, GMBH
Hessiche Industriemull-Betriebs, GmbH, translated in English as Hessian Industrial Waste, Inc.
and referred herein as HIM, is a non-prof t company that was formed to serve the chemical waste
treatment and disposal needs of industry located in the State of Hesse in the Federal Republic of
407