Processed-engineered fuels

Processed-engineered fuels (PEF), also known as pellet fuels, are produced from a mixture of plastic with other recycled materials. The other waste can be unre-cyclable paper, tires, or other scrap materials. The amount of plastic is varied to yield a pellet fuel possessing the desired combustion characteristics. The idea is to design PEFs to provide highly predictable and uniform combustion characteristics. Essentially, the plastic that can be recovered or recycled by other means is targeted for this approach. 

As an alternative to using postconsumer plastics as a fuel in municipal waste combustors, several groups have examined processed plastics or mixed paper and plastics as a fuel for cement kilns [1, 145, 146] and industrial and utility boilers [147-151]. In this application, the term process engineered fuel (PEF) is... 

There are two major areas where fuel processor developers are focusing their research and development efforts, catalyst development and process/engineering development. A smaller, long term effort on novel processing schemes is in the early stages of being investigated. 

Process/Engineering Development (15,25,34) There are numerous engineering and process issues that are being addressed by fuel processor developers. Several major issues are ... 

Two ASPEN (Advanced System for Process Engineering, public version) simulations compare the performance of conventional and networked fuel cell systems having identical recycle schemes and steam bottoming cycles. Each simulated system was composed of three MCFC stacks operating at the same temperature and pressure. The Nemst potential of each MCFC in both systems was reduced by 0.3 volts due to activation, concentration and ohmic voltage... 

This process has evolved considerably from the start of the Iron Age, when our amateur engineer ancestors developed batch processes, through the continuous processes that fueled the Industrial Revolution, down to the twentieth century, where specialty steels are the desired products. As might be expected, these processes evolved primarily by trial-and-error methods, because no detailed analysis of reactor flows and reactions are productive or even possible. 

The good news for fuel cells is that they run on a different process. Fuel cells are not exempt from scientific laws, but their manner of energy conversion is electrochemical rather than thermal. The maximum efficiency for the electrochemical processes in fuel cells is higher than for the internal combustion engines that power many automobiles today. 

Senatore, A., M. Cardone, V. Rocco, and M.V. Prati. 2000. A Comparative Analysis of Combustion Process in D.I. Diesel Engine Fueled with Biodiesel and Diesel Fuel. Report No. 2001-01-0691. Warrendale, Pa. Society of Automotive Engineers. 

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