Burn baby burn...incinerator clears range debris

  • Published
  • By Samuel King Jr.
  • Team Eglin Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Vast amounts of particle board waste set on fire and burned on the Eglin range Oct. 28 and 29, but almost no smoke was released due to the 46th Test Wing's new air curtain incinerator.

Currently, the air curtain incinerator or air burner helps the wing get rid of test materials used to detect direction and velocity of bomb explosion fragments. For safety and accuracy, hundreds of the boards could be used for just one test.

The cost of moving and disposing of the used boards was significant, as was the amount of space used at a landfill, according to Jeff Bufkin, 46th Test Wing.

The alternative was an air burner, which would consume massive amounts of the wood waste quickly and minimize the amount of pollutants released.

"The air curtain incinerator will provide us a 90 percent reduction in the volume of material we are disposing of when you compare the ash to the original un-burnt material," said Mr. Bufkin. This also translates into a 90 percent reduction in cost because the disposal cost is basically based on the volume."

The reduction in volume of material to be disposed also has several environmental benefits, such as less fuel spent to transfer the material. Also, the wood ash left behind is a rich soil additive.

"There is a potential for using the ash as a soil supplement one day if the environmental approvals can be obtained, since preliminary samples show no hazardous component after it has been burnt," said Mr. Bufkin.

The main objective for the air burner is to minimize particle matter or smoke from burning. For the 46th, it completes four objectives: it gets rid of used testing supplies, reduces the overall waste and creates a smaller, useful product and significantly minimizes the environment impact from burning.

The wood waste is loaded into the air burner and ignited. Once the fire reaches a suitable strength, a curtain of air is engaged over the top of the box. The stream of air (which looks like fire) slows down the smoke particles as they rise. This subjects the smoke particles to the highest temperatures in the box causing them to reburn. This reduces their size and makes for a cleaner burn.

"It's hard to visualize without seeing it in operation, but the air burner doesn't burn anything, it controls the results of something burning," said Brian O'Conner, president of Air Burners.

The scale used to measure the matter within smoke is called the Ringelmann scale. A large fire typically ranges from 80 to 100 on the scale. The air burner reduces the matter to less than 10. During the two days of burning at Eglin, the emissions averaged around seven on the scale.

The first two-day run last month, was to begin using the air curtain incinerator and to train Eglin personnel on run the machine. InDyne personnel will run and maintain the incinerator once a month based on the 46th TW testing schedule.