Abstract
Today different types of wastes are used as refuse-derived fuels (RDF) either in waste-to-energy plants or as fuel substitutes in energy-intensive industrial processes. In order to quantify their greenhouse-gas relevance (fossil carbon content), reliable and practical analytical methods are required, which allow differentiation between biogenic and fossil organic carbon. In the present paper, an alternative method to determine the fossil share in RDFs is examined and validated. The so-called “adapted Balance Method” (aBM) is applied to three different RDFs and the results are compared to three standardized methods, namely the Radiocarbon Method (14C-Method), the Selective Dissolution Method (SDM), and the Manual Sorting Method (MS). The aBM is based on the distinctly different elemental composition of water-and-ash-free biogenic and of fossil matter (TOXBIO and TOXFOS). Within the study, these compositional data are derived by manual sorting of the RDFs. The results show that the values obtained by the aBM are in excellent agreement with the results of the 14C-Method (considered as reference method). Mean deviations between the two methods of −0.9 to +1.9% absolute for the share of fossil carbon are found which are statistically insignificant. High trueness and reliability of the aBM can be expected, independent of the RDF type. In contrast, the reliability of the other standardized methods (SDM and MS) appears to strongly depend on the type and composition of the RDF. The results further indicate that the generation of RDF-specific data on TOXFOS is important for the aBM if significant shares of polymers with comparably high oxygen content might be present in the RDF and if low uncertainties of the results (<3% relative) are required. The findings demonstrate that the alternative method has advantages compared to standardized methods with respect to reliability and/or costs.
Highlights
The utilization of waste materials as a secondary energy resource is increasing throughout most of the world
The results further indicate that the generation of refuse-derived fuels (RDF)-specific data on TOXFOS is important for the adapted Balance Method” (aBM) if significant shares of polymers with comparably high oxygen content might be present in the RDF and if low uncertainties of the results (
They are similar to values given in Fellner et al (2011) [24], where typical values for RDF processed from household and commercial waste are collected
Summary
The utilization of waste materials as a secondary energy resource is increasing throughout most of the world. With respect to the determination of the climaterelevant share in solid RDFs, three methods are described in the standard EN 15440:2011: the Manual Sorting method (MS), the Selective Dissolution Method (SDM), and the Radiocarbon Method (14C-Method) [17]. The BM and 14C-Method are applicable for a “post-combustion” analysis in the flue gas, whose representative sampling is considerably easier compared to the solid waste material, as the latter is much more heterogeneous. The BM is able to monitor the fossil share in the input of waste-to-energy plants in real-time [20,21,22]. Characterizing the waste and RDFs prior to combustion requires solid samples to be analyzed This is possible by means of the MS, SDM, and 14C-Method and by means of a recently adapted version of the BM (adapted Balance Method). Despite the high analytical precision of the 14C-Method, uncertainties for this method are introduced by the choice of a 14C-reference value [28,29]
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