Review of Selected Determinants Affecting Use of Municipal Waste for Energy Purposes

Abstract

The aim of the article is to analyse the impact of selected conditions on the use of municipal solid waste in energy production processes. The authors in this publication indicated that the factors determining the effective use of solid municipal waste may be, in particular, formal and legal conditions, methods used in the processes of thermal waste transformation, recovery logistics or emergency situations such as pandemics or armed conflicts. Their knowledge can be very useful in the processes of the effective use of municipal waste for the production of thermal energy, especially in the current period of the energy crisis faced by most EU countries. This paper also emphasizes the importance of RDF (refuse-derived fuel) for the thermal energy sector, which can be used both in large combustion plants and in less powerful facilities, including local heating and combined heat and power plants as an alternative to traditional fossil fuels. The article was prepared by means of the systematic literature review (SLR) method, utilising the Scopus database and secondary sources.

Possibilities of RDF Pyrolysis Products Utilization in the Face of the Energy Crisis

“…Thanks to the departure in the EU from the linear economy model to the circular economy (CE) and the implementation of the "zero waste" idea, all of the EU countries are striving to stop landfilling municipal waste [26]. Changes in waste management are expected to have a beneficial impact on the economy, the environment and the health of residents of EU countries.…”

“…It is important to acknowledge that, in accordance with the relevant waste management hierarchy, the process of energy recovery takes precedence above recycling and composting. Hence, it is imperative to take into account the categorization of trash that is neither economically viable or technically unfeasible for recycling and composting (as seen in Figure 6) [26,35,36]. To release energy stored in waste, various methods of thermal conversion are used: incineration, pyrolysis, torrefaction and gasification (Figure 7) [37].…”

“…Unfortunately, the price of this gas has also increased almost 3 times (0.21 EUR). Taking into account the calorific value of gas from the pyrolysis of RDF, which varies from 20 to even 30 MJ/m 3 [10,26,44,97], one can consider the use of pyrolysis gas for pre-heating furnaces before the plastic processing of metals [20]. Figure 13 compares the calorific values of conventional gaseous fuels with those of pyrolysis gas obtained from the pyrolysis of RDF.…”

Study of the Combustion Process for Two Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) Streams Using Statistical Methods and Heat Recovery Simulation

“…They have a heterogeneous particle size, which significantly increases their combustion time. According to the requirements of Directive 2000/76/EC, gaseous products of incineration should reach a temperature of 850 • C (for non-hazardous waste) and 1100 • C (for hazardous waste) maintained for at least two seconds [22]. RDF can be burnt without auxiliary fuels when its LHV exceeds 5-7 MJ/kg, which is significantly affected by the ash and water content in the waste.…”

Калориметрична Методика Визначення Теплоти Згоряння Палив З Твердих Побутових Відходів

“…Складність утилізації ТПВ, в значній мірі, обумовлена широким морфологічним складом та низькими теплотехнічними характеристиками цих компонентів (табл.1) [1]. Проблема ускладнюється ще й тим, що кількісні і якісні характеристики ТПВ не є сталими, а постійно змінюються, в залежності від країни, населеного пункту, умов життя населення, пори року, погодних умов та інших факторів їх утворення і збору [1,2,3,4]. Тому різні літературні джерела часто надають відмінні між собою дані про склад та характеристики ТПВ.…”