The influence of the uncertainty on monitoring stack emissions in a waste-to-energy plant

Managing the result of a comparison between measured values and a threshold is usually a relevant issue. An area in which this issue is even pressing is the monitoring of pollutants emitted by plants for the disposal and incineration of waste. This paper proposes a method of comparison that, taking into account both measurement uncertainty and measurand variability, allows to estimate the level of risk that a wrong decision is being taken. The application of the method to the problem of tracking pollutants in the waste-to-energy plant of San Vittore del Lazio (Italy), after a brief description of the plant, is described through some experimental results.