Thermal oxidizers reduce air pollution by heating contaminated air until it reaches temperatures high enough to break down the hazardous compounds, leaving carbon dioxide and water vapor as byproducts. Many industrial processes result in the production of air pollutants such as volatile organic compounds, hydrocarbon, solvent fumes and halogenated and hazardous air pollutants. As these pollutants can cause serious environmental and biological damage, it is vital that they be managed and disposed of properly.
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Thermal oxidizers offer a means of disposal for toxic air pollutants and are used in several industries including polymer and resin manufacturing, food processing, printing, pharmaceuticals, painting, roofing manufacture and many more. Thermal oxidizers are a large piece of equipment and are therefore most widely used in industrial settings that yield high emissions. It is important to consider the requirements of a given application prior to purchase to ensure optimal oxidation occurs. As thermal oxidizers function by burning or heating the contaminants, temperatures are particularly important and range from 1000 to 1800 ° F on average. The solvent load and volume must also be taken into consideration as well as the required airflow. A properly selected thermal oxidizer should boast destruction efficiency rates between 90% and 99%. The higher this percentage the lesser the pollutants released into the atmosphere.
As concerns over emissions mount, the EPA encourages and often requires the use of air pollution control mechanisms such as thermal oxidizers which are a popular choice in industrial settings with high process air emissions. Thermal oxidizers can be categorized as direct flame or non-flame. The former is the simplest option as it requires a firing box into which the process stream flows. A burner converts the materials as needed. The time needed to complete this goal varies. Non-flame oxidizers are often more popular as they offer ample opportunity for the recovery and reuse of the heat energy. In these systems the tainted air is forced through a heated tube which slowly increases the temperature until the impurities are broken down. The purified air is then exhausted into the atmosphere. Heat recovery systems in this particular type of pollution control equipment may be either recuperative or regenerative. Recuperative models recover about 50% to 75% of the generated heat using a plate or shell and tube heat exchanger which uses the heat from recently cleaned air to heat the dirty incoming air. Regenerative models are much more efficient with up to 95% energy efficiency as they use ceramic heat transfer beds. The energy and cost savings of these types of thermal oxidizers make their application more popular than direct flame options in many industrial settings.