Refuse derived fuel characteristics

The Clean Air Act of 1990 has made trace metal content in fuels and wastes the final ash-related compositional characteristic of significance. Considerable attention is paid (ca 1993) to emissions of such metals as arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, silver, and zinc. The concentration of these metals in both grate ash and flyash is of significance as a result of federal and state requirements of particular importance is the mobility of metals. This mobility, and the consequent toxicity of the ash product, is determined by the Toxic Characteristic Leaching Procedure (tclp) test. Tables 8—10 present trace metal contents for wood wastes and agricultural wastes, municipal waste, and refuse-derived fuel, respectively. In Table 8, the specific concentration of various components in the RDF governs the expected average concentration of trace metals. 

The pneumatic conveyors are suitable for refuse-derived fuel, dense and light plastics, granulated paper, milled glass, and chip wood/timber. They are not suitable for mixed municipal solid waste due to the variable characteristics of the components, organics/putrescibles due to odors, and material deposition in the rotary valves, and metal objects, except shredded aluminum. 

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