Refuse Derived Fuel: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 10:12, 8 September 2020

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. 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 SRF.

Moving Refuse Derived Fuel and Solid Recovered Fuel from the UK abroad requires compliance with the Transfrontier Shipment Regulations (TFS) and in simple terms requires an application for movement to be made to the relevant authorities that requires a number of key measures to be satisfied before this can occur.

Annual Export

The data shown is for export from England and for 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 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.

Month on Month Export

The graph shows the monthly shipments of RDF along with a trend line showing the trajectory of export.

Year on Year Differences

Data Table
<graph>{ "width": 500, "height": 500, "data": [ { "name": "table", "values": [ {"x": 2012, "y": 758521}, {"x": 2013, "y": 953391}, {"x": 2014, "y": 698508}, {"x": 2015, "y": 549765}, {"x": 2016, "y": 319223}, {"x": 2017, "y": -78564}, {"x": 2018, "y": -277369}, {"x": 2019, "y": -532123}, {"x": 2020, "y": -1854112} ] } ], "scales": [ { "name": "x", "type": "ordinal", "range": "width", "domain": {"data": "table", "field": "x"} }, { "name": "y", "type": "linear", "range": "height", "domain": {"data": "table", "field": "y"}, "nice": true } ], "axes": [ {"type": "x", "scale": "x"}, {"type": "y", "scale": "y"} ], "marks": [ { "type": "rect", "from": {"data": "table"}, "properties": { "enter": { "x": {"scale": "x", "field": "x"}, "width": {"scale": "x", "band": true, "offset": -1}, "y": {"scale": "y", "field": "y"}, "y2": {"scale": "y", "value": 0} }, "update": { "fill": {"value": "steelblue"} } } } ] }</graph>
Year	Tonnage Shipped	Increase on Previous	Percentage Change
2011	251,451	-	-
2012	1,009,972	+758,520	301.7%
2013	1,963,363	+953,390	94.4%
2014	2,661,871	+698,508	35.6%
2015	3,211,636	+549,765	20.7%
2016	3,530,859	+319,222	9.9%
2017	3,452,295	-78,563	-2.2%
2018	3,174,926	-277,269	-8.0%
2019	2,642,802	-532,123	-16.8%
2020 (for Q1 & Q2)	788,690	-1854112	-70.2%

Exporters

Exporters from the UK during the years 2017, 2018 & 2019.

Company	2017	2018	2019
ABN Paris SAS		2,244
Andusia Recovered Fuels Ltd	180,644	157,690	152,590
Associated Waste Management Ltd	53,711	39,982	49,910
Baco-Compak (Norfolk) Ltd	7,077	5,062
Bagnall & Morris (Waste Services) Ltd	17,115	18,668	9,254
Bertling Enviro AB	89,208	171,445	153,912
Biffa Waste Services Ltd	463,102	358,290	315,622
Bywaters (1986) Ltd	24,789
Camreg Ltd	26,170	21,183
CellMark UK Ltd	14,231	1,956
Chambers Waste Management PLC	24,907	2,554
Combineering A/S	4,759	13,610	6,012
Countrystyle Recycling Ltd	90,848	64,260	52,411
Eco-Power Environmental (Hull) Ltd			3,659
EFO AB	4,932	9,835	4,778
FCC Recycling (UK) Ltd	187,944	168,850	86,438
Frimstone Ltd	15,282	14,690	12,030
Gemi UK Ltd	14,025
Geminor UK Ltd	329,069	436,586	232,567
Greenway Waste Recycling	77
Grundon Waste Management Ltd	32,412	24,854	16,729
Hills Waste Solutions Ltd	23,573	17,276	9,082
JBT Waste Services Ltd	17,864	11,826
McGrath Bros (Waste Control) Ltd	73,327	29,854	34,281
Mid UK Recycling Ltd	17,419	52,481	21,887
N&P Alternative Fuels Ltd	355,944	363,204	289,781
N+P Recycling B.V.	27
New Earth Solutions (Canford) Ltd	45,822	30,610	34,738
New Earth Solutions (West) Ltd t/a Mid UK Recycling	62,051	38,730	60,966
Northstone International Ltd		9,809	35,184
Pericula LTD	289	1,200	3,794
PM Recycling Ltd	7,555
Powerday PLC	37,886	18,028	17,759
Probio Energy Ltd	94,802	143,218	167,256
Quercia Ltd	54,156	58,485	55,589
REDACTED	870		849
Remondis UK Ltd		5,091	16,413
Renewi UK Services Ltd		30,053	30,693
Seneca Environmental Solutions Ltd	230,049	155,215	126,137
Shanks Environmental Services Ltd			74,997
Shanks Waste Management Ltd	143,416	117,886
Specialised Waste Solutions Ltd		49	170
Street Fuel Ltd	56,041	44,128	23,594
SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK Ltd	428,609	322,104	280,957
Thanet Waste Services Ltd	8,471	72
Totus Environmental Ltd	47,909	63,123	34,736
Veolia ES (UK) Ltd	155,917	164,010	171,784
Weir Waste Services Ltd	13,613	1,895
West Sussex Britaniacrest Seneca Partnership Ltd		30,260	56,242

Fuel Specifications

We have pulled together a number of specification (spec) sheets to produce give an overall feel for the spec of Refuse Derived Fuel and Solid Recovered Fuel, as shown in the table below. In reality the spec is usually very tightly controlled by the receiving plant.

Measure	Units	Residual Waste^[1]	RDF	SRF
Net Calorific Value	MJ/kg (as received)	9 - 15	10 - 15	>18.5
Moisture	wt% (dry basis)	10 - 40	<20	<15
Biomass Content^[2]	wt% (dry basis)	>45	>65	>65
Ash Content	wt% (dry basis)	10 - 30	<20	<15
Sulphur	wt% (dry basis)	< 0.85	<0.5	<0.5
Nitrogen	wt% (dry basis)	<1.5	<0.8	<0.8
Lead	mg/kg	<200	<100	<80
Chlorine CI	wt% (dry basis)	<1.2	<0.6	<0.6
Zinc^[3]	wt% (dry basis)	<0.1
Sodium and Potassium^[3]	wt% (dry basis)	<0.8
Mercury	mg/kg	<2	<1	<0.6
Nickel	mg/kg	<200	<100	<100
Thallium	mg/kg	<20	<10	<10
Ferrous and non-ferrous metals	wt% (dry basis)	<7	<3	<1
Non combustible material	wt% (dry basis)	<15	<10	<5
Glass	wt% (dry basis)	<5	<2	<1
Dust <1mm	wt% (dry basis)	<5	<5	<5
Bulk Density (loose)	kg/m3	100 - 275	100 - 175	185
Particle Size (max dimension)	mm	500	300	<40

References

↑ Typical ranges for Residual Waste as a Comparison
↑ Not generally defined for exports to EU (no biomass requirements.)
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 Not generally defined in a fuel spec

[1] Typical ranges for Residual Waste as a Comparison

[2] Not generally defined for exports to EU (no biomass requirements.)

[rdf1-3] 3.0 ^3.1 Not generally defined in a fuel spec

[1]

[2]

[3]

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 Moving [[Refuse Derived Fuel]] and [[Solid Recovered Fuel]] from the UK abroad requires compliance with the [[Transfrontier Shipment Regulations]] ([[TFS]]) and in simple terms requires an application for movement to be made to the relevant authorities that requires a number of key measures to be satisfied before this can occur.
 ==Annual Export==
-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 only code that covers both [[RDF]] and [[SRF]] tonnage.
+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.