What the De Montfort medical waste incinerator does…

It reduces all waste added to ash and flue gases. This includes dressings, wet or dry, plastics, organic matter, etc. Used hypodermics can be added, but needles may not all be reduced though they will be
sterilised and denatured. Care should be taken when removing ashes in this case. Small glass sharps will normally be part melted and rendered safe.

When properly operated, the flue gases emitted will have been held at a high temperature (800°C) for at least one second and should be almost harmless.

...and what it will not do…

It will not render all flue gases smoke free, and will not meet clean air requirements in all situations with all loads. If this is your requirement, you will need to buy a much more expensive incinerator and have it
professionally installed and operated.

It will not operate automatically without attention. When burning waste, particularly infectious waste, an operator must be in constant attendance.

It is not suitable for short sharp burns with no warm up period. For this sort of operation you need a low thermal capacity incinerator, probably made of stainless steel, and gas heated.

It is not suitable for operation in a closed room. Smoke will be emitted whenever the loading door is opened. A roof may be fitted to protect the operator from rain, but only minimum walls.

Guidelines: a few basic rules to respect

Despite the fact that they have been designed to be as simple and affordable to build, the De Montfort incinerators must be built in an appropriate location with care and using the
right materials. See the "Guidelines on how to construct, use and maintain a waste disposal unit" (English and French versions available below).

Choosing an appropriate location:

The incinerator should be built at a convenient distance away from buildings so that any smoke or flue gas does not enter buildings. 150 metres is the suggested minimum, unless
the buildings are very high in which case the distance may need to be increased. The incinerator should be built on a solid concrete foundation appropriate to the local ground
conditions. It should be convenient for the waste disposal officer to carry the waste containers to the site, and facilities to store the waste securely before burning should be
provided. An ash pit to finally dispose of ashes should be provided nearby.

Choosing a qualified builder:

It is best to choose a contractor who is competent in simple bricklaying and also in fabricating mild steel sections so that one person can be responsible for the construction of the
whole incinerator. The contractor should understand the importance of the correct choice of refractory materials and ideally should be able to source all the materials.

Selecting the right materials:

The incinerator will be operated at temperatures which can occasionally exceed 1000°C. Thus it is important that refractory bricks and mortar are used throughout. The mild steel
specified is either in the form of sheet steel or rolled steel angle, or rolled steel “U” section (channel). It is often not possible to obtain this U section steel, but it can be substituted
by two lengths of rolled steel angle welded to form the correct shape. exact cross-sectional dimensions are not critical. The thickness of the mild steel plate is important to
avoid premature failure due to corrosion. The chimney should be made from steel pipe 3mm thick if it can be obtained, and its diameter can vary between 100mm and 150mm
to ease procurement. If no such pipe can be obtained it should be fabricated from the thickest plate that can be rolled with the tools available. The thinner the chimney gauge, the
more frequently the chimney will need replacing due to corrosion

Materials

Each model has it's own specifications. Despite this, there are a number of common issues that are presented below.

The bricks in the combustion area and in the secondary combustion chamber/flue will get very hot during operation. Common building bricks will disintegrate if used in these
areas.

The mortar is composed of high alumina refractory cement and refractory granulates.

Mild steel is subject to corrosion, especially in those areas subject to high temperatures and combustion gases. Therefore, although some variation in the specified materials is
possible, it is recommended that steel plate thickness is not reduced merely to simplify construction.

Rolled steel angle components may be made from the nearest available size to that specified. There is a lot of tolerance here provided that the chosen size is not significantly
weaker than that specified.

U section (channel) is likely to prove the most difficult to obtain in the size specified. It can be made by welding together two lengths of rolled steel angle to form a U section of
approximately the specified dimensions.
Door hinges and fasteners may be made in any manner available to the constructor and agreed by the user

Dimensions

The size of refractory bricks can differ widely between one country and another. For this reason, only approximate dimensions are given, and the instructions are written in terms of the number of bricks in each layer, to
avoid unnecessary cutting of bricks. The small variations in the size of the completed incinerator will have no effect on its performance. It follows that the steelwork also must be made to the measured dimensions of
the brickwork so that the steel and brick components fit together.

Sealing issues and air flow

The fuel and load should burn only after they reach the level of the air holes. Thereafter the flames should be drawn down to the grate and through the transfer hole to the secondary combustion chamber and up the
chimney. This means that the loading door must be completely airtight except when it is opened to add more fuel.

It is also important that the firebricks of the primary combustion chamber are sealed with fireclay or fire cement to the top plate to prevent the burning gases or flames being drawn up the primary combustion chamber
and directly into the chimney. If for any reason the sand seals should distort during operation, incorrect burning will occur and the maximum incineration temperature will not be attained. Should this happen, the joint
between the sand seals and the brickwork should be again sealed with fireclay.

The air holes have been calculated to allow in the correct amount of air for efficient combustion at high temperature. Some tolerance is allowable so that air pipes can be made from materials available locally, but it is
not good practice to leave the ash door open during operation, and it is incorrect to leave a gap beneath the ash door. Air should enter the combustion chamber only through the air holes.

The chimney

The chimney should be at least 4 metres high, and can be extended if it is thought necessary to take the gases above any nearby buildings. Its diameter can be between 100mm and 150mm, but the spigot on which
it rests must be adjusted so that the chimney is a loose fit.

There are a number of ways of maintaining the chimney in a vertical position. If a roof is built over the incinerator area, it may be possible to attach the chimney to a roof truss. Otherwise four steel cables can be
attached to the chimney at a point about two-thirds up the chimney and the other ends of the cables anchored to the ground at least two metres from the chimney. If the chimney weight is above average, either
because it is made of heavy gauge steel or because it is much longer than 4 metres, the plate supporting the chimney spigot must be doubled in thickness.

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