Renovations of old incinerators are not attractive jobs for designers and manufacturers, it is a site full of unexpected issues and a lot of time is spend, just to have a correct view on the actual situations before some works can be done, because:

• Design mistakes are present, which are known in advance and need to be corrected and adapted
• Working on somebody else’s software and coding, if it is accessible, is adventurous.
• No drawings available
• Adaptations have been done by the operators during the many years of operations
• No standard drawings can be used, because of a capacity difference (and those drawings can not be re-used later).
• Etc.

But the old incinerator has the advantages:

• It has operational permits.
• The incinerator is in operation, so there is already a financial income from the waste
• Waste incinerator operators are present
• Tools and equipment for installations and assembly works are present
• Flue gas treatment systems are standard systems and still up-to-date technology or easy to upgrade.
• Energy recovery is already organized, for example the hospital next to the boiler room is accepting the heat

Renovations and upgrades of existing incinerators

Mostly the “old technology” is the combustion chamber. Static combustion chamber, to big waste feeding systems which generate peeks in air emission, burners which are running all the time to assure the min. temperature of the combustion. And this makes it not profitable to “run an old installation”.

Refractory is maintenance requiring. During a maintenance, some reparation works are done, but improvements not. This is in fact the moment we can use to upgrade an existing installation and prepare it for an upgrade of a new combustion system.

Financial advantage of an upgrade

The upgrade requires more time, and there is more frequently a smaller amount of money to invest. But is less heavy, and doesn’t require the same financial efforts compared to a big credit line. The works can be “on hold” for a while and waste can be further processed not to lose processing time, income and reputation.

Engineering requirements for the renovation of an existing installation

To be able to do this type of works, it is necessary to know:

• The basic technology process theory, like calculations and physical specifications of waste incineration. So new items can be sized on the existing plant.
• It is necessary to be able to make mechanically the correct drawing, so everything can be tailor made
• Software & process: It is necessary to make a dual software system which is running in parallel to the existing one and cooperating with the existing software.