Feasibility of 100 Percent Rdf Firing for Power Generation

The title of the paper purports to discuss the feasibility of 100% RDF firing for power generation. It is implied that it is possible to fire 100% RDF in a single boiler. However, for the case study cited, the author suggests a much more elaborate system for a 16 MW system. The flow sheet suggests 80% heat input from RDF and 20% from coal. He also suggests that three boilers handle the RDF. This means each boiler fues 1475 lb/hr (9 tpd) of RDF and this should reflect 80% MCR in each boiler. In other words, each of the three units would be sized for 88.5 x 106 Btu/hr and the coal fued unit would be sized for 55 x 106 Btu/hr. If this is what the author intended, it is not a very cost effective design. There are ample refer­ ences to previous papers in the proceedings of this confer­ ence that describe MSW and RDF power generating schemes. There are units operating here and abroad that generate more than 16 MW with heat inputs of fossil fuel of less than 20% and in most areas this is accomplished in a single waste fued or combined fired boiler. Some plants use coal for trimming but generally trimming is accom­ plished with pulverized coal firing. The author states that "RDF-fued boiler volume must be up to approximately three times greater than coal-fired boiler volumes to be able to generate the same amount of steam." I disagree with this statement as written. The paper devotes more space to current status and an overview of RDF firing, which contains a great of opinion