Pollution Increases at Other Tire Burning Plants

Certain metals present in tires (such as copper, iron, manganese, nickel, sodium and zinc)¹⁰ serve as catalysts for dioxin formation, providing a surface on which dioxins can readily form during and after the combustion process.¹⁵ The greater chlorine content of tires combined with the presence of these metal catalysts is the likely reason why burning tires with coal has been found to produce more dioxin pollution than burning only coal. Increased dioxin emissions have been found in most of the tests conducted where dioxin emissions at facilities burning 100% coal were compared to those co-firing 4-30% TDF.

Data From	TDF Content (% TDF compared to 100% coal)	Dioxins/Furans
4 California Cement Kilns^6,16-22	<20%	Increased between 53% and 100%
5 Canadian Cement Kilns^23		Increased 37% and 247% in two tests Decreased 54% and 55% in two other tests
Victorville, CA Cement Kiln^24	24.6%	Dioxins increased 139-184% Furans increased 129%
Cupertino, CA Cement Kiln^26		Increased 30%
Davenport, CA Cement Kiln^24,27	30%	Dioxins increased 398% and 1,425% in two tests Furans increased 58% and 2,230% in two tests
Davenport, CA Cement Kiln^28	20%	Increased 25%
Lucerne Valley, CA Cement Kiln^29	20%	Dioxins and some dibenzofurans increased
Chester, PA Paper Mill^30	4-8%	Increased 4,140%
U Iowa, Iowa City, IA Industrial Boiler^2	4%	Decreased 44%
U Iowa, Iowa City, IA Industrial Boiler^2	8%	Decreased 83%

Taken from

http://www.energyjustice.net/tires