Emissions of Polychlorinated Dibenzo-P-Dioxins and Dibenzofurans (PCDD/F) from hazardous waste treatment facilities and incinerators will be more closely regulated under the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) standard. Successful application of this task will help sites obtain and maintain operating permits, which will allow DOE's waste treatment facilities to continue to operate and meet various state compliance agreements. The work also enables facilities to develop effluent control systems to meet compliance emission limits.

The objective of this project is to develop a laboratory instrument which can provide continuous monitoring of the emission levels of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) generated by incineration equipment at DOE sites. Once developed this instrument will be used to systematically study the emission levels of key dioxins and furans that contribute to Toxic Equivalence (TEQ). This information, combined with mechanistic modeling studies being undertaken elsewhere, will lead to the design specifications for a real-time, autonomous dioxin Continuous Emissions Monitor (CEM) that can be used for compliance monitoring at DOE incinerators. Experts in this area suggest that a dioxin CEM should first be used as a research tool in laboratories studying dioxin formation and control. As such, the instrument must make rapid, accurate measurements of dioxins but at concentrations much higher than needed for a compliance CEM. This type of instrument will greatly accelerate our understanding of dioxin formation and the availability of prevention and control techniques. A real-time CEM will provide immediate feedback on how variations in combustion operating parameters affect dioxin formation and/or destruction, thus allowing more accurate correlations and much more comprehensive data analysis. Although 210 different dioxins can be produced during combustion, fewer than 20 are toxic enough to warrant monitoring. Once developed, the proposed instrument will be used to study the emission levels of these key dioxins, leading eventually to an improved understanding of the formation of these molecules and to improved means of monitoring and control. As our understanding of dioxin formation improves, we will build a database using emissions from actual waste treatment processes to correlate operating conditions with dioxin formation. This database can also be used to identify surrogates or indicators that can be monitored more easily and cheaper than the dioxins themselves, leading to less expensive, more widely implemented, compliance and control strategies. CEMs also provide data important for stakeholder's assurance that the combustion processes are operating safely. Stakeholders such as public interest groups, permit writers, and local citizens groups, can play a major role in permitting waste treatment facilities. Real-time emissions data may accelerate their acceptance, saving time and money during the permitting process.