The key difference between combustion and incineration is that combustion includes the reaction between substances and oxygen, which produces energy, whereas incineration is the destruction of something via burning.
Both combustion and incineration refer to burning, but the application of the term is different. The term combustion refers to a chemical reaction, while incineration refers to the destruction of material such as waste.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Combustion
3. What is Incineration
4. Side by Side Comparison – Combustion vs Incineration in Tabular Form
5. Summary
What is Combustion?
Combustion is a chemical reaction in which substances react with oxygen, producing energy. Here, energy is produced in two forms as light energy and heat energy. We call this “burning”. The light energy appears as a flame, while heat energy is released to the environment.
Figure 01: Incomplete Combustion
There are two types of combustion as complete and incomplete combustion. In complete combustion, there is an excess of oxygen, and it gives a limited number of products, i.e. when we burn fuel, complete combustion gives carbon dioxide and water with heat energy. Incomplete combustion, on the other hand, is a partial burning process which gives more products at the end of the reaction. Here, a low amount of oxygen is used; if we burn fuel, incomplete combustion of fuel gives carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and water with heat. The production of this energy through combustion is very important in industries, and this process is also important to produce fire.
What is Incineration?
Incineration is the process of destroying something through burning. Therefore, we mainly use incineration as a waste management process.
Figure 2: An Incineration Plant
Further, this process includes the combustion of organic material in waste. We categorize this waste treatment process as “thermal treatment”. The final products of incineration are ash, flue gas and heat.
What is the Difference Between Combustion and Incineration?
Both combustion and incineration are similar processes. The key difference between combustion and incineration is that combustion includes the reaction between substances and oxygen, which produces energy, whereas incineration is the destruction of something via burning. Moreover, there are two types of combustion as complete and incomplete combustion.
Besides, as the final product, complete combustion of fuel gives carbon dioxide, water and heat, but incomplete combustion gives carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, water and heat. However, incineration gives ash, flue gas and heat as the final product. So, we can consider this too as a difference between combustion and incineration.
Summary – Combustion vs Incineration
Both combustion and incineration are similar processes. The key difference between combustion and incineration is that combustion includes the reaction between substances and oxygen, which produces energy, whereas incineration is the destruction of something via burning.
Reference:
1. “Incineration.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 31 July 2019, Available here.
Image Courtesy:
1. “62730” (CC0) via Pixabay
2. “District heating plant spittelau ssw crop1” By Croped by Gralo from a self-taken image by Contributor – Cropped by User:Gralo from a self-taken image by Contributor (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia