The environmental impact of refuse derived fuel co-combustion with lignite

Abstract

Legal regulations on waste disposal require waste producers to limit landfilling and to find different ways of waste management, the preferred methods being recycling of material and energy potential. Currently, in Poland, the only consumers of refuse-derived fuels (RDF) are cement plants. However, their ability to utilize alternative fuel is far from the estimated potential. One solution would be to redirect the excess fuel to power and heat production facilities. Unfortunately, these sectors are facing a number of problems related to the thermal treatment of waste, mainly formal nature. Co-combustion of waste in power plants raises a lot of concern among their employees and local communities. Especially significant is the harmfulness of usage of fuel from waste for the people’s lives or health, or the environment. The article compares the environmental footprints of the combustion process of: waste - based fuel (RDF) and lignite. The analysis was performed for a standard pulverized coal fired boiler. Comparative assessment was made by analyzing the total environmental impact of all combustion products of the two fuels. Final results have shown, that the environmental footprint of waste-based fuels can be similar or even smaller than traditional coal-based fuels