Refuse Derived Fuel: Difference between revisions

A type of [[Waste Derived Fuel]], [[Refuse Derived Fuel]] or [[RDF]] has been prepared by a treatment process to produce a broad specification fuel, which is still considered to be a waste, that can be used by an [[EfW]] plant supplied under a [[Fuel Supply Agreement]]. The specification will depend upon the plant to be used, but typically at the most basic level will have had metals and inert materials removed, removal of some recyclables and limited shredding/bag splitting. More refined [[RDF]] will have had drying, shredding to a uniform size and [[Moisture Content]] reduction. At the very high end of production the [[RDF]] will move towards being a [[Solid Recovered Fuel]] ([[SRF]]).

A type of [[Waste Derived Fuel]], [[Refuse Derived Fuel]] or [[RDF]] has been prepared by a treatment process to produce a broad specification fuel, which is still considered to be a waste, that can be used by an [[EfW]] plant supplied under a [[Fuel Supply Agreement]]. The specification will depend upon the plant to be used, but typically at the most basic level will have had metals and inert materials removed, removal of some recyclables and limited shredding/bag splitting. More refined [[RDF]] will have had drying, shredding to a uniform size and [[Moisture Content]] reduction. At the very high end of production the [[RDF]] will move towards being a [[Solid Recovered Fuel]] ([[SRF]]).

For the purposes of legislation [[RDF]] remains a waste (unless stringent [[End of Waste Criteria]] can be met) and so users of the fuel have to comply with the [[IED]] which has superseded [[WID]].

==Composition of Refuse Derived Fuel==

We have pulled together a number of specification (spec) sheets to produce give an overall feel for the spec of [[Refuse Derived Fuel]], as shown in the table below. In reality the spec is usually a function of the receiving plant.

{| class="wikitable"

|Net Calorific Value||MJ/kg (as received)||9 - 15||10 - 15

|Moisture||wt% (dry basis)||10 - 40||<20

|Biomass Content<ref>Not generally defined for exports to EU (no biomass requirements.)</ref>||wt% (dry basis)||>45||>65

|Ash Content||wt% (dry basis)||10 - 30||<20

|Sulphur||wt% (dry basis)||< 0.85||<0.5

|Nitrogen||wt% (dry basis)||<1.5||<0.8

|Lead||mg/kg||<200||<100

|Chlorine CI||wt% (dry basis)||<1.2||<0.6

|Zinc<ref name="rdf1">Not generally defined in a fuel spec</ref>||wt% (dry basis)||<0.1||&nbsp;

|Sodium and Potassium<ref name="rdf1"/>||wt% (dry basis)||<0.8||&nbsp;

|Mercury||mg/kg||<2||<1

|Nickel||mg/kg||<200||<100

|Thallium||mg/kg||<20||<10

|Ferrous and non-ferrous metals||wt% (dry basis)||<7||<3

|Non combustible material||wt% (dry basis)||<15||<10

|Glass||wt% (dry basis)||<5||<2

|Dust <1mm||wt% (dry basis)||<5||<5

|Bulk Density (loose)||kg/m3||100 - 275||100 - 175

|Particle Size (max dimension)||mm||500||300

|}

 

Chlorine is a particular issue due to its tendency to form [[wikipedia:Hydrochloric acid | Hydrochloric Acid]] in an energy recovery process, which then requires specific abatement/clean-up technologies. With limited such arrangements in [[Cement Kilns]] this means that they generally have a lower tolerance for Chlorine closer in a final specification to [[SRF]].

 

The movement of RDF from the UK, primarily in the EU, commenced in c.2010 and progressively grew up until around 2016 driven by supply-demand and [[Landfill Tax|landfill tax]] in the UK and the economics and spare capacity of [[EfW]] plants in the EU. From around 2017 tonnages for export started to drop, with more pronounced drops from 2018 as the supply-demand patterns changed in the UK, some EU countries started to implement taxation on [[EfW]] and the cost and complexities of transportation following [[wikipedia :brexit|Brexit]] increased. The two charts below show the overall patterns of export:

{|class="wikitable"

|[[File:CIWM Curve.png|500px|center|CIWM Presidential Report 2018 – RDF Trading in a Modern World]]|| [[File:RDF and SRF Export.png|450px|center|RDF and SRF Export - analysis of EA data by Monksleigh]]

| '''[[CIWM]] Presidential Report (2018) Showing Grow in [[RDF]] and [[SRF]] Export'''<ref>[https://www.circularonline.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/downloads/RDF-Trading-in-a-Modern-World-Summary-Findings.pdf CIWM Presidential Report 2018 Summary of Findings pdf]</ref>|| '''Analysis by Monksleigh of [[RDF]] and [[SRF]] Exports from England from [[EA]] Data'''

 

 

==Annual Export from England==

The data shown is for export from England and for [[EWC | Waste Code]] '''''19 12 10 - combustible waste (refuse derived fuel)''''' as this is the primary code that covers both [[RDF]] and [[SRF]] tonnage.

 

It is important to note that some [[RDF]] / [[SRF]] is exported under the [[EWC | Waste Code]] '''''19 12 12 - other wastes (including mixtures of materials) from mechanical treatment of wastes other than those mentioned in 19 12 11''''', this code is a catch all, and covers any waste from Mechanical treatment not covered by it's own 19 12 waste code and as such has not been included in the numbers below.

 

The graph shows the monthly shipments of [[RDF]] along with a trend line showing the trajectory of export for 2015 onwards.

 

 

 

[[File:RDF and SRF Export Annual.png|700px]]

!Year!!Tonnage Shipped!!Increase on Previous!!Percentage Change

|2015||3,167,440||-||-

|2016||3,449,079||281,639||8.9%

|2017||3,272,319||-176,760||-5.1%

|2018||2,799,584||-472,735||-14.4%

|2019||2,436,359||-363,225||-13.0%

|2020||1,426,724||-1,009,635||-41.4%

|2021||1,218,855||-207,869||-14.6%

|2022||1,202,915||-15,940||-1.3%

|}

 

===Exporters===

The notifiers of Export of RDF from 2015 onwards.

 

{{#clear_external_data:}}{{#get_db_data: db=engy|from=notifrdf|data=notif=notif,yr2015=yr2015,yr2016=yr2016,yr2017=yr2017,yr2018=yr2018,yr2019=yr2019,yr2020=yr2020,yr2021=yr2021,yr2022=yr2022}}

{|class = "wikitable sortable"

{{#for_external_table:<nowiki/>

{{!}}-