Combustion of an artifical municipal solid waste in a laboratory fluidised bed reactor

Abstract

The aim of this project was to prepare an artificial municipal solid waste (MSW) fuel for combustion experiments m a lab oratory-scale fluidised bed reactor. The major advantages with an artificial MSW are that: (i) the composition is very homogeneous; (11) the content of elements is very well- known; and (111) the mixture can easily be changed as the MSW content is changed. A well-controlled combustion pro cess together with an artificial fuel enables detailed studies of the formation mechanisms of organic micropollutants (OMP), such as polychlormated dibenzo-p-dioxms (PCDDs) and polychlormated dibenzofurans (PCDFs). The design and preparation of an artificial MSW fuel are described in this paper. The similarity in emission levels and homologue pro file of the PCDD/Fs in the artificial MSW fuel combustion and in full-scale MSW combustors indicates that the artificial fuel mixture gave the same precursor formation and catalytic reactions that full-scale MSW combustion, i.e. the most important reaction pathways are the same in the two systems.