RDF-Gasification part 1:Characterizing the use RDF as fuel and solving the tar problem by an in-depth laboratory study
conference paper
Source separation of waste and higher recycling percentages in waste streams result in better sorted waste, e.g. in RDF with a high plastic content. An optimized, dedicated installation can be designed for this high calorific waste. Preliminary laboratory tests showed that gasification of RDF has some advantages over combustion in a fluidized bed system. The drawback of gasification, however, is the production of tars. The tar chemistry was studied during laboratory-scale gasification tests at ECN with emphasis on RDF specific tars and their effect on the OLGA tar-cleaning system designed for biomass. The first tests encountered polymerization in the OLGA collector. The influence of foam polystryrene in the fuel was studied after observing extremely high styrene concentrations. However, polystyrene by itself did not lead to fouling. A new hypothesis is currently experimentally tested. It is thought that the polymerization can be attributed to the presence of polystyrene in the RDF fuel, chlorine as a catalyst for the polymerization reactions and at least one other tar component, likely released from another RDF component. Future efforts will be aimed at understanding the influence of the main individual RDF components and building up a knowledge base to use as a predictive tool to avoid operational problems.
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TNO Identifier
846530
Publisher
ECN
Collation
11 p.
Place of publication
Petten
Files