MSW is a poor-quality fuel and its pre-processing is necessary to improve its consistency, storage and handling characteristics, combustion behaviour and calorific value. Technological improvements are taking place in the realms of advanced source separation, resource recovery and production/utilisation of recovered fuel in both existing and new plants for this purpose. In recent years, there has been an increase in the pelletization of municipal solid wastes.
What is Pelletization of MSW?
Pelletization of municipal solid waste involves the processes of segregating, crushing, mixing high and low heat value combustible waste material and solidifying it to produce fuel pellets or briquettes, also referred to as Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF).
The process is essentially a method that condenses the waste or changes its physical form and enriches its organic content through removal of inorganic materials and moisture. The calorific value of RDF pellets can be around 4000 kcal/ kg depending upon the percentage of organic matter in the waste, additives and binder materials used in the process.
The calorific value of raw MSW is around 1000 kcal/kg while that of fuel pellets is 4000 kcal/kg. On an average, about 15–20 tons of fuel pellets can be produced after treatment of 100 tons of raw garbage. Since pelletization enriches the organic content of the waste through removal of inorganic materials and moisture, it can be very effective method for preparing an enriched fuel feed for other thermochemical processes like pyrolysis/ gasification, apart from incineration.
Production of MSW Pellets
RDF production line consists of several unit operations in series in order to separate unwanted components and condition the combustible matter to obtain the required characteristics.
The main unit operations are screening, shredding, size reduction, classification, separation either metal, glass or wet organic materials, drying and densification. These unit operations can be arranged in different sequences depending on raw MSW composition and the required RDF quality.
Various qualities of fuel pellets can be produced, depending on the needs of the user or market. A high quality of RDF would possess a higher value for the heating value, and lower values for moisture and ash contents. The quality of RDF is sufficient to warrant its consideration as a preferred type of fuel when solid waste is being considered for co-firing with coal or for firing alone in a boiler designed originally for firing coal.
Uses of MSW Pellets
MSW pellets can be used for heating plant boilers and for the generation of electricity. They can also act as a good substitute for coal and wood for domestic and industrial purposes. The important uses of RDF are found in the following spheres:
- Cement kilns
- RDF power plants
- Coal-fired power plants
- Industrial steam/heat boilers
- Pellet stoves
The conversion of solid waste into fuel pellets provides an alternative means for environmentally safe disposal of garbage which is currently disposed off in non-sanitary landfills. In addition, the pelletization technology provides yet another source of renewable energy, similar to that of biomass, wind, solar and geothermal energy. The emission characteristics of RDF are superior compared to that of coal with fewer emissions of pollutants like NOx, SOx, CO and CO2.
Goodday Sir, pls hope this correspondence meets you well. How can we workout a partnership that can ensure this technology can be sold by us exclusive to various nations across Africa where we have strong contacts in government. I await your reply ernestly so that we can commence a fruitful relationship. Thank You.
Dear Sir
Thanks for this article.
Would like to know who you would recommend as pellet machine suplier having one or several references on pelletizing / briquetting RDF.
Best regards
Christian Grangé
Dear sir,
i want to open a small source of pelletizing/briquetting RDF in my town in india .so i need your help in installing a plant , please help me regarding this
Dear sir,
i want to open a possible micro /small scale pelletizing/briquetting RDF in my town in india with minimum capital .I need your help in installing a plant , please help me regarding this
Reply
NAGARJUNA REDDY
Dear Sir ,
We would like to setup small level briquette plant from MSW / Rural waste as an new entrepreneur. May I request you to let me know details about machinary etc at cytecgreen@gmail.com .
Pl reply
Regards
M Jain
I want to establish a unit of pellet making. where the machinaery will be available.
sonds as if drax has bought b.c. forests for pellets to burn in england instead of cleaning the forests of dead and down and mitigating the fire potential they are cuting old growth forests of hemlocck because it is considered wastwood.so at 50k tons perday the mainplant is chewing 20 billion tons of wood that has the capacity to store at 90% MOISTORE 180 billion tons of water with future expansion to 10 times tons of this ;moisture from the ocean is acidis contains salt and is not ionized meaning that the water droplet do not congrigate to from rain this extended to its ultimate accumilation gives us weather frons that dump 20-40 inches of rain in a 24 to 48 hr event. when the mositure is absorbed by mature stands the collective water storage is in the 1-2 millin gallon per acare this creates the 30 inches of average annual percipitation and more importantly releases chemicals that in part ionize the water particules so tha they can congergate as the fronts encounter the upslopes cool the moisture and create rain and snow.the more of this capacitor that is removed the less water is retained andscientist foresters ecologist enviormentalist no one says this or even comesclose to telling what biomass inthe 30 000 cubic meters peracre do and the myth proported by slick media brainwashing that tell you that the seedlings they plant replace the forest period fullstop end of disscusion.watch as the areas in drought grow from 40% to 60% this is when hydro power is no longer a source of electricity and swollows all the wind and solar green energy installations capacity.