Abstract
In view of the restrictive environmental protection and shrinking landfill capacities in Western Europe, the controlled incineration of industrial and municipal waste in conceived plants points out a chance to take care of natural resources. Such plants include subsequent units to treat the – probably catalytically oxidized – hot flue gases. Counter current scrubbers using water or caustic soda solution free the cooled flue gases from hazardous compounds.
The simultaneous demand of an acidic atmosphere and a circulating alkaline brine to the whole construction requires a careful material selection, which today is efficiently solved by choosing a combination of a thermoplastic material serving as so-called chemical barrier and a load-bearing structure made from glass-fiber reinforced plastic (FRP). Thanks to its cost-performance ratio polypropylene plays a significant part amongst thermoplastic materials.
Today different polypropylene grades for sheet material in combination with different fabric backings protect the FRP-structure from heavy alkaline and acidic attack downstream of the quenching step of waste incineration plants.