Corn bustion Fundamentals An Engineering Approach to the Design of Industrial Incinerators

The design of an industrial incinerator must center around the energy converter of the system or the combustion process. Combustion is the principal function of an incinerator. Although other aspects such as the waste handling, gathering, ash disposal, and controls are important, it is the combustion process that is paramount. There are two ways that the combustion process can be designed. Either of these two ways is a perfectly good'and accepted way of achieving engineering design. The first and most common way is that of empiricism. Simply speaking, we have built one before and we have learned by correcting our mistakes how to achieve a good design. We are there­ fore safe to continue that design with minor experi­ menting here and there of new ideas for orderly evo­ lution. Empiricism has always preceded the second way of design which is by the use of rational engi­ neering fundamentals. Eventually, the rational fundamental engineering approach overtakes empiri­ cism and this is what this paper is all about.