En jämförelse av RDF och avfall som förbränningsbränsle

Sammanfattning: In the EU the amount of waste increased by 14 percent during the years 2000 to 2010. EU’s target to reduce waste generation runs parallel with the aim of increasing the efficiency and profitability aligned with energy recovery. In Sweden the energy recovery through incineration is increasing steadily, and 46 percent of the municipal solid waste (MSW) is treated by combustion. This report aims to examine the profitability of processing MSW into Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) from an economic-, energy- and environmental perspective. In order to obtain a comparison with incineration of MSW the starting point of the feasibility study is one ton of combustible MSW incinerated directly in a stocker grate type incinerator, compared to the same ton of MSW processed to RDF and incinerated in a fluidized bed.The proportion of MSW processed to RDF varies between 23-85 percent, which leads to an average of 540 kg, 54 percent, processed RDF from a ton of MSW. One ton of RDF has a calorific value between 18.5-23 MJ/kg. The calorific value of combustible MSW is calculated to 10.38 MJ/kg. The two different boilers for combustion of the fuels have the same power of 28 MW. The comparison shows the total energy recovery, of heat and electricity, for the combustible MSW in the stocker grate to 2.51 MWh, and for the 540 kg RDF incinerated in a fluidized bed to be 2,56 MWh. As long as the proportion of RDF processed from a ton of MSW is greater than 51 percent, the energy recovery is higher for the RDF.A cost-benefit analysis, calculated from the combustion of 70 000 tons of MSW, and 54 percent of the amount processed to RDF, shows a higher net present value for RDF, 1042 million. However, the net present value of the combusted MSW was also positive, 1024 million, which indicates that both investments are profitable. The payback method showed the same result, with a payback time of 3.17 years for RDF-combustion and 4.24 years for combustion of MSW.Emissions of carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide are both higher when incineration of 540 kg RDF takes place in a fluidized bed, than of a ton of MSW in a stocker grate incinerator. Emission of carbon dioxide is 17,7 percent higher and for nitrogen oxide 23 percent higher.