There are many definitions for an incinerator.  It is called ‘an apparatus for burning waste materials at high temperatures until it is reduced to ash’.  Another definition is ‘an incinerator is one that incinerates, especially a furnace for incinerating waste materials’.  A third one is ‘it is a device for burning things which are no longer wanted’.

Heaters, boilers, pyres, cremators, etc. are sometimes also loosely classified in this category.

Incineration also means the ‘high efficiency combustion of certain solid, liquid or gaseous wastes’.

Modern incinerators include pollution mitigation equipment such as flue gas scrubbers.  Incineration is a technology for ‘in situ’ thermal treatment based on application of high temperature to burn harmful organic substances.

Incinerators are designed for many types of wastes such as:

·        municipal solid waste

·        industrial hazardous wastes

·        bio-medical waste

·        general wastes

·        ship wastes

·        animal wastes

·        gaseous wastes

·        liquid waste

and others

Incinerators are also used for recovery of noble metals used as catalysts and gold, platinum and silver used by the jewellery industry.

There are different types of incinerator designs such as:

·        static hearth

·        moving hearth

·        moving grate

·        rotary kiln

·        fluidized bed

The process of incineration or combustion is actually a rapid oxidation to convert VOCs, other gases, gaseous hydrocarbon pollutant to carbon dioxide and water. 

In the present scenario, waste to energy incinerator plants are gaining greater acceptance particularly with regard to municipal solid waste.  These incinerators not only get rid of all the unwanted and mountainous wastes, but also generate electricity by recovering the thermal energy generated thereby serving two purposes - namely getting rid of unwanted substances and generating power at practically no cost. 

Most dependable incinerators and systems are made of original metals with no compromise on quality and lined with highly reliable refractory linings which last more than 10-15 years.  The incinerator will function very efficiently if it is maintained and operated properly.  There are instances of equipment exceeding their life to the extent of even 20 years!!!