The Effect of Substituting Rdf on the Physical and Environmental Properties of Coal Fly Ash

Abstract

ABSTRACTRefuse-derived-fuel (RDF) consisting mainly of waste paper and plastics is a viable fuel source for the production of power. An experimental test burn partially substituting coal with RDF was undertaken by the Public Service of New Hampshire at the Merrimack Power Station.Five percent and ten percent RDF were substituted, on a BTU basis, for coal in the test bums. The chemical and physical properties of the resulting fly ash were determined. Twelve test burn days were run with 4 days of 5% RDF and 8 days of 10% RDF. Emphasis was placed on investigating the effect of the RDF fly ash on Portland cement concrete.Most of the chemical and physical properties of the coal-RDF fly ash were found to be comparable with ordinary coal fly ash except for the amount of cadmium and lead, the pozzolanic activity index and the compressive strength of fly ash concrete. Cadmium and lead were at average levels of 5.1 ppm and 102.6 ppm for the 5% RDF, and 7.8 ppm and 198.3 ppm for the 10% RDF, respectively. Although the pozzolanic activity index of coal-RDF fly ash increases over normal coal fly ash, preliminary results show that the 28-day compressive strength of concrete with direct replacement of cement and sand decreases by up to 30%. Leaching tests on crushed concrete were conducted to evaluate the environmental effect of acid rain.