In the last few years, Taiwan has set a bold agenda in solid waste recycling and incineration programs. Not only were the recycling activities and incineration projects promoted by government agencies, but the related laws and regulations were continuously promulgated by the Legislative Yen. The solid waste presorting process that is to be considered prior to the existing incineration facilities has received wide attention. This paper illustrates a thorough evaluation for the first refuse-derived fuel pilot process from both quantitative and qualitative aspects. The process is to be installed and integrated with a large-scale municipal incinerator. This pilot process, developed by an engineering firm in Tainan County, consists of standard unit operations of shredding, magnetic separation, trommel screening, and air classification. A series of sampling and analyses were initialized in order to characterize its potentials in the solid waste management system. The probabilistic modeling for various types of waste properties derived in this analysis may provide a basic understanding of system reliability.
IMPLICATIONSThis analysis presents a thorough performance testing and reliability analysis for the refuse-derived fuel (RDF) process that was built as the first pilot plant in Taiwan. The mass balance analysis indicates that such a presorting process for subsequent waste-to-energy facilities may achieve a 50% production rate based on the waste inflow of 30 tons/hr in several test runs. With the resultant higher heat value (30 tons/hr up to 3716 kcal/kg on average) and lower amount of non-combustibles existing in the final RDF products, the systematic implications to energy recovery, combustion efficiency, pollution control, and ash reuse potential in an integrated waste-to-energy facility are phenomenal. Reliability analysis by the identification of probability distribution to each related factor extends the insight in the feasibility study.