Emission of Mutagenic Substances From Waste Incineration Plants

Abstract

Combined filter-, condensate- and XAD-extracts of flue gas samples from four different municipal solid waste (MSW) incineration plants were tested for mutagenic activity in the Ames Salmonella/microsome assay. The mutagenic activity in samples from two of the incinerators was relatively high, whereas the emission from the other two was in the same order of magnitude as from oil- or coal-fired plants of equivalent size. Generally, the material collected did not require metabolic activation for mutagenic activity. The emission of mutagenic substances was statistically correlated to the emission of carbon monoxide and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). Thus, the amount of mutagenic material can be modulated by the combustion process. Fractionation studies showed that there is not only a quantitative but also a qualitative difference in mutagenic activity between samples representing different combustion conditions.