Analysis of Medical Waste Incinerator Performance Based on Fuel Consumption and Cycle Times

Abstract

A detailed assessment of an incinerator based on fuel consumption and cycle time data is presented in this paper. The study was conducted at Temeke district hospital for 22 months consecutively covering 654 days of daily data collection on fuel consumption and cycle times. The composition for the medical waste incinerated varied between 15% and 35% for sharps waste and between 65% and 85% for other waste, with mean values of 25% and 75%, respectively. The results revealed poor performance of the incinerator due to higher fuel consumption (above 30 L/cycle). The incineration cycle times were observed to range between 2 and 4 hours, all of which were too high for the loading rates observed (55 - 214 kg). A strong dependency of diesel oil consumption on cycle time was observed due to lack of temperature control leading to continuous fuel flow into the burners. The incineration capacity was very low compared to other incinerators in terms of tons per year. This paper gives an insight on the factors affecting incinerator performance assessed based on diesel oil consumption and cycle times. It can be generalized that the incinerator performance was poor due to several factors ranging from poor incinerator design, operator skills, waste management practices, waste storage practices, etc. The hospital was advised to install a new incinerator with short incineration cycle time (30 - 40 minutes) and lower fuel consumption (10 L/cycle) at a loading rate of 200 kg/cycle.