Ultra-fine particles in the flue gas of human crematories

In Germany, the amount of cremations has been increasing for years and already includes more than 65% of all burials. Emission limits for fine dust or the number of ultrafine particles (UFP) do not exist and so far no systematic investigations are known which show particulate emissions in crematories. Therefore, it is currently not possible to assess whether crematories are significant particulate matter sources. In order to close this gap, the UFP concentrations were measured in the stack of ten crematories of different construction year respectively modernization year and with different flue gas cleaning technologies. Time-averaged UFP concentrations between 1.19 . 10(3) and 4.26 . 10(7) cm(-3) were detected. The highest concentrations were found in systems with entrained-flow processes whose filter units were about to undergo the next revision. In plants of the same type with maintained filter units, the time-averaged UFP concentration was two orders of magnitude lower.