Synergies Between Biomass and Solid Recovered Fuel in Energy Conversion Processes

Abstract Solid recovered fuels (SRFs) derived from commercial/industrial and municipal solid waste-type streams containing high heat value plastics offer a number of synergies for biomass combustors. This article covers technical and operational synergies to increase biomass combustion efficiency in a grate fired system typical for waste-to-energy technology. The transfer of laboratory results to pilot scale is presented by a new approach based on experimental data in laboratory scale and a mathematical model using key combustion parameters. Agreement between the experimental data and the mathematical model is sufficient to use the model for scale up. Because of the sometimes poor biomass fuel quality in biomass combustion facilities, the following unfavorable operating conditions occur: fouling and slagging on the furnace and boiler walls. These effects lead to lower operating hours due to more frequent cleaning cycles. The low- and medium-priced biomass available from the market has very low heat values...