Is there a meaningful relationship betwen chlorine feed and non-dioxin stack emissions?

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers Center for Research and Technology Development (ASME/CRTD) published an extensive analysis and tabulation of available dioxin and chlorine in late 1995. The preponderance of that data produced no meaningful relationship between dioxin stack emissions and chlorine feed across a broad range of commercial waste combustor types. In the Preamble to the April 1996 proposed Hazardous Waste Combustor Rule, EPA acknowledged that changes in chlorine feed have little effect on dioxin emissions, but the text goes on to speculate that reducing chlorine input is still a good idea because fewer metals and chlorinated organics might be emitted. Given that the conventional wisdom - reducing chlorine input to full scale facilities will reduce dioxin emissions - proved groundless when the available data were examined in a consistent manner, what does the available data tell us about the relationship between chlorine feed rate and municipal waste combustor (MWC) stack emissions in general? Product substitution and waste component diversion programs are expensive and economically disruptive at current levels. So, the likelihood of achieving any benefit needs to be determined before public policy changes are made. If there is no significant relationship between chlorine feed rate and stack emissions,more » then efforts to reduce chlorine feed are unlikely to reduce the trace levels of contaminants that leave state-of-the-art MWCs. Interventions to reduce chlorine feed rate would simply cause society to squander its scarce resources chasing ghosts.« less