MUNICIPAL-WASTE INCINERATION, ENERGY, AND COMBUSTION SYSTEMS STUDIES

Part I. In chapter 1, the production, fate and health effects of dioxins emitted from municipal-waste incinerators (MWIs) is discussed. Extremely large variations in health-risk assessments are detailed. It is concluded that modern MWIs should pose an acceptable health risk. Chapter 2 deals with MWI manufacturers and grate technologies. A heat-transfer model was developed yielding temperatures within an MWI. In chapter 3, this latter model is used to apply a previously-proposed dioxin-formation model. Dioxin production was calculated in the lower-temperature regions; flyash-catalyzed surface reactions were again identified as the dominant source of dioxins.;Coal gasification is an emerging technology. A study was made to determine the research needs of this field. Excerpts coauthored by DFW from this book are given in chapter 2 in the following areas: (i) gasification for electricity generation; (ii) a site-specific study of a gasifier-fuel cell combination; (iii) gasification catalysts; (iv) gas supplies and separation; (v) general gasifier stoichiometry.;Part III. The Burke-Schumann diffusion-flame model is applied to two, three, and multiple flames with rectangular symmetry in chapter 1. Solutions for these cases are presented. Flame shapes are shown for one, two, and three adjacent flames with various initial conditions.;The impulse due to ablation when solid surfaces are exposed to short-duration laser pulses was determined in chapter 2. Following Anisimov, the following assumptions were made: (i) no interaction between the vaporized metal and the incident radiation; (ii) the metal is in vacuum; (iii) steady states have been reached in the metal and gas layers. Impulse rates in (dyne-sec/cm;Part II. Energy or other emerging technologies are often described by the logistics equation, which we transformed into a difference equation in chapter 1. Recent chaotic-transition theories were used to identify stable and unstable growth regions in several areas with the following results: (i) first commercialization of a new technology is unstable due to its long time-period requirements; (ii) nuclear reactors in the US have been introduced at either too fast a total growth rate or too long a construction time between successive generations to allow stable growth.