page_title: Incineration
section_title: Burn pile
hierarchical_section_title: Incineration / Technology / Burn pile
caption_attribution_description: English: A typical small burn pile in a garden.
context_page_description: Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of organic substances contained in waste materials. Incineration and other high-temperature waste treatment systems are described as "thermal treatment". Incineration of waste materials converts the waste into ash, flue gas and heat. The ash is mostly formed by the inorganic constituents of the waste and may take the form of solid lumps or particulates carried by the flue gas. The flue gases must be cleaned of gaseous and particulate pollutants before they are dispersed into the atmosphere. In some cases, the heat that is generated by incineration can be used to generate electric power.
  Incineration with energy recovery is one of several waste-to-energy technologies such as gasification, pyrolysis and anaerobic digestion. While incineration and gasification technologies are similar in principle, the energy produced from incineration is high-temperature heat whereas combustible gas is often the main energy product from gasification. Incineration and gasification may also be implemented without energy and materials recovery.
context_section_description: The burn pile is one of the simplest and earliest forms of waste disposal, essentially consisting of a mound of combustible materials piled on the open ground and set on fire.
  Burn piles can and have spread uncontrolled fires, for example, if the wind blows burning material off the pile into surrounding combustible grasses or onto buildings. As interior structures of the pile are consumed, the pile can shift and collapse, spreading the burn area. Even in a situation of no wind, small lightweight ignited embers can lift off the pile via convection, and waft through the air into grasses or onto buildings, igniting them. Burn piles often do not result in full combustion of waste and therefore produce particulate pollution.
caption: A typical small burn pile in a garden.
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