1 research outputs found
Emissions from Small-Scale Burns of Simulated Deployed U.S. Military Waste
U.S. military forces have historically relied 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 (PM<sub>10</sub>, PM<sub>2.5</sub>), polychlorinated and polybrominated dioxins/furans
(PCDD/F and PBDD/F), and criteria pollutants were determined and are
contained within. The average PCDD/F emission factors were 270 ng-toxic
equivalency (TEQ) per kg carbon burned (ng-TEQ/kg Cb), ranging from
35 to 780 ng-TEQ/kg Cb. Limited testing suggests that targeted removal
of plastic water bottles has no apparent effect on reducing pollutants
and may even promote increased emissions