Of Persistent Organic Pollutants (Pops) Submitted by Japan

29/8/2007

Latest Information on plasma waste converter (PWC) technology regarding technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) submitted by Japan

1. Background The information on plasma waste converter (PWC) technology had once been included in the draft technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) during the OEWG 4 session in August 2004. However, it was deleted from the final draft of the said technical guidelines at the end of the OEWG 4 session, since there were no relevant commercial plants that might be in question at that time.

2. PWC technology in Japan (1)

In 2006, a pilot PWC plant was tested for Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) treatment in Japan. The result of the test showed that destruction efficiencies (DEs) ranged from 99.9999454% to 99.9999997% and destruction removal efficiencies (DREs) ranged from 99.9999763% to 99.9999998%. The air emission levels of PCDD/PCDF and dioxin like PCBs showed 0.0000043-0.068 ng TEQ/Nm3 (Tagashira et al., 2006). (2) Annex 1 to this document provides the outline of PWC technology. The Annex 2 shows details about the result of PCB waste treatment with PWC technology.

1 Annex 1

Name of Process: Vendor: Plasma Melting Technology Nippon Steel Engineering Co., Ltd. Web site: Applicable Pesticides and related POPs http://kankyou.eng.nsc.co.jp/e/index.html wastes: Kobelco Eco-Solutions Co., Ltd. PCB(polychlorinated biphenyl) Web site: http://www.kobelco- eco.co.jp/english/engindex.htm

Technology description: PCB-contaminated wastes are canned into containers such as drum cans, without shredding or disassembling. In the plasma furnace, plasma torch generates high temperature plasma gas (air) so that the furnace temperature is maintained to melt the wastes together with the container itself. All the organic substances including PCB is decomposed to CO2, H2O and HCl under high temperature atmosphere in the plasma furnace, and the non-organics including metal are oxidized to become molten slag.

Process diagram:

2 Plasma melting PCB Wastes Molten Slag furnace

High temperature Carry out chamber

Gas cooling tower

No.1/No.2 Bag filter Solid

Catalyst tower Carry out & Chemical treat

Activated carbon chamber

Exhaust stack

Process diagram of Plasma Melting Technology

Performance (Pilot plant):

Treatment efficiency: Disposal capacity: 40 kg/hour

PCB 【PCB wastes: mixed test】

Input concentrations Exhaust gas Slag BF solid (No.1) BF solid (No.2) DEs DREs(Exhaust gas) A B C D E

PCB 1.3 % 0.0051 μg/m3N 0.000027 mg/kg 0.00016 mg/kg 0.000069 mg/kg 99.9999976 % 99.9999982 %

PCB 1.3 % 0.0016 μg/m3N 0.0000072 mg/kg 0.0000049 mg/kg N.D. mg/kg - 99.9999994 %

* Input wastes: ballasts, copy paper, cloth wastes, sludge, concrete block, plastic pellets, pail cans * N.D criteria for BF solid (No.2) are not clear.

3 * DEs: (A-(B+C+D+E))/A×100 (recalculation of reference data) * DREs: (A-B)/A×100 (recalculation of reference data)

【PCB waste: non-mixed test】

Input concentrations Exhaust gas Slag BF solid (No.1) BF solid (No.2) DEs DREs(Exhaust gas) A B C D E

PCB 1.5 % 0.019 μg/m3N N.D. mg/kg 0.00089 mg/kg 0.00018 mg/kg - 99.9999956 %

PCB 27 % 0.012 μg/m3N 0.000017 mg/kg 0.00074 mg/kg 0.0013 mg/kg 99.9999997 % 99.9999998 %

PCB 21 % 0.024 μg/m3N 0.0000092 mg/kg 0.0025 mg/kg 0.0082 mg/kg 99.9999978 % 99.9999991 %

* N.D criteria for slag are not clear. * DEs: (A-(B+C+D+E))/A×100 (recalculation of reference data) * DREs: (A-B)/A×100 (recalculation of reference data)

PCDD+PCDF, Dioxin-like PCBs 【PCB wastes: mixed test】

Conformity to Input concentrations Exhaust gas Slag BF solid (No.1) BF solid (No.2) emission standards Remarks Exhaust gas

PCDD+PCDF - - - - - PCB 1.3% Dioxin-like PCBs - - - - - ○ PCB disposal amount: 4.1kg PCDD/Fs+Dioxin-like PCBs - 0.00029 ng-TEQ/m3N 0 pg-TEQ/g 0.000031 ng-TEQ/g 0.00000020 ng-TEQ/g

PCDD+PCDF - - - - - PCB 1.3% Dioxin-like PCBs - - - - - ○ PCB disposal amount: 4.1kg PCDD/Fs+Dioxin-like PCBs - 0.0000061 ng-TEQ/m3N 0 pg-TEQ/g 0.00000018 ng-TEQ/g 0.00000016 ng-TEQ/g

PCDD+PCDF - - - - - PCB 1.3% Dioxin-like PCBs - - - - - ○ PCB disposal amount: 4.1kg PCDD/Fs+Dioxin-like PCBs - 0.0000056 ng-TEQ/m3N 0 pg-TEQ/g 0 ng-TEQ/g 0 ng-TEQ/g

PCDD+PCDF - - - - - PCB 1.3% Dioxin-like PCBs - - - - - ○ PCB disposal amount: 4.1kg PCDD/Fs+Dioxin-like PCBs - 0.0046 ng-TEQ/m3N 0.00071 pg-TEQ/g 0.0000011 ng-TEQ/g 0.00000079 ng-TEQ/g

PCDD+PCDF - - - - - PCB 1.3% Dioxin-like PCBs - - - - - ○ PCB disposal amount: 4.1kg PCDD/Fs+Dioxin-like PCBs - 0.0000043 ng-TEQ/m3N 0 pg-TEQ/g 0 ng-TEQ/g 0 ng-TEQ/g

* ”-” in the table shows “non-measurement” or “non-recording”. * Conformity to emission standards shows as follows. (emission standard; exhaust gas (0.1 ng-

4 TEQ/m3N), waste water (10 pg-TEQ/L): ○: adapted,－*: non-comparable for lack of measurement item, △: non- confirming for determination limit, ×: non- adapted * Input wastes: ballasts, copy paper, cloth wastes, sludge, concrete block, plastic pellets, pail cans

【PCB waste: non-mixed test】

Conformity to Input concentrations Exhaust gas Slag BF solid (No.1) BF solid (No.2) emission standards Remarks Exhaust gas PCDD+PCDF - - - - - Input wastes: ballast(PCB 1.5%) Dioxin-like PCBs - - - - - ○ Input amount: 333kg/8h PCDD/Fs+Dioxin-like PCBs - 0.041 ng-TEQ/m3N 0 ng-TEQ/g 0.0036 ng-TEQ/g 0.0019 ng-TEQ/g

PCDD+PCDF - - - - - Input wastes: carbonless copying paper(PCB 0.65%) Dioxin-like PCBs - - - - - ○ Input amount: 196kg/8h PCDD/Fs+Dioxin-like PCBs - 0.044 ng-TEQ/m3N 0 ng-TEQ/g 0.0038 ng-TEQ/g 0.00000072 ng-TEQ/g

PCDD+PCDF - - - - - Input wastes: sludge(PCB 27%) Dioxin-like PCBs - - - - - ○ Input amount: 260kg/8h PCDD/Fs+Dioxin-like PCBs - 0.00023 ng-TEQ/m3N 0 ng-TEQ/g 0.10 ng-TEQ/g 0.016 ng-TEQ/g

PCDD+PCDF - - - - - Input wastes: cotton waste(PCB 21%) Dioxin-like PCBs - - - - - ○ Input amount: 182kg/8h PCDD/Fs+Dioxin-like PCBs - 0.068 ng-TEQ/m3N 0 ng-TEQ/g 0.068 ng-TEQ/g 0.093 ng-TEQ/g * ”-” in the table shows “non-measurement” or “non-recording”. * Conformity to emission standards shows as follows. (emission standard; exhaust gas (0.1 ng- TEQ/m3N), waste water (10 pg-TEQ/L): ○: adapted,－*: non-comparable for lack of measurement item, △: non- confirming for determination limit, ×: non- adapted

Other information: The commercial plant is constructed by JESCO (Japan Environmental Safety Corporation) from March, 2007. (PCB treatment capacity: 0.5 ton/day)

Vendor Contact details: Kobelco Eco-Solutions Co., Ltd., Kobe Head Office, 4-78, 1-Chome, Wakinohama-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, JAPAN Tel: 81-78-232-8154 Fax: 81-78-232-8099 Email：[email protected]

References: 1) Japan Industrial Waste Management Foundation (2005): Technical Guideline for Treatment of PCBs(revised) (in Japanese) 2) Japan Environmental Safety Corporation, The committee for the evaluation of PCB treatment project(2005): Treatment of PCB wastes (in Japanese)

5 3) Tagashira S., Takahashi M., Murata M. and Osada M. (2005): Plasma Melting Technology of PCB- Contaminated Wastes, Kobelco Eco-Solusions Engineering Reports, Vol.1, No.2, p.21-26 (in Japanese) 4) Tagashira S., Takahashi M., Osada M. and Murata M. (2006): Plasma Melting Technology of PCB- Contaminated Wastes, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Combustion, Incineration/Pyrolysis and Emission Control, September 26-29, 2006 at Kyoto University, Kyoto, JAPAN, p.519-522

6 Annex 2

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