Refuse Derived Fuel

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).

Picture of loose RDF material, picture from Turmec, all rights reserved

Context

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).

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 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	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	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	wt% (dry basis)	<0.1
Sodium and Potassium	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

Background to Export of Refuse Derived Fuel

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 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 Brexit increased. The two charts below show the overall patterns of export:

CIWM Presidential Report 2018 – RDF Trading in a Modern World	RDF and SRF Export - analysis of EA data by Monksleigh
CIWM Presidential Report (2018) Showing Grow in RDF and SRF Export	Analysis by Monksleigh of RDF and SRF Exports from England from EA Data

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 from England

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.

month on month export with trend

Year on Year Differences

<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": -402945}, {"x": 2020, "y": -980611} ] } ], "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>
Data Table
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	2,771,981	-402,945	-12.7%
2020	1,791,370	-980,611	-35.4%

Exporters

Exporters from the UK during the years 2017, 2018, 2019 and Q1/Q2 2020. The full year 2020 will be updated in WikiWaste in September 2021.

Company	2017	2018	2019	2020
ABN Paris SAS		2,244
Andusia Recovered Fuels Ltd	180,644	157,690	152,590	75,386
Associated Waste Management Ltd	53,711	39,982	49,910	3,226
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	67,888
Biffa Waste Services Ltd	463,102	358,290	315,622	73,774
Bywaters (1986) Ltd	24,789
Camreg Ltd	26,170	21,183		8,884
CellMark UK Ltd	14,231	1,956
Chambers Waste Management PLC	24,907	2,554
Combineering A/S	4,759	13,610	6,012	1,628
Countrystyle Recycling Ltd	90,848	64,260	52,411	8,618
Eco-Power Environmental (Hull) Ltd			3,659	3,779
EFO AB	4,932	9,835	4,778
FCC Recycling (UK) Ltd	187,944	168,850	86,438	30,877
Frimstone Ltd	15,282	14,690	12,030
Gemi UK Ltd	14,025
Geminor UK Ltd	329,069	436,586	232,567	90,361
Greenway Waste Recycling	77
Grundon Waste Management Ltd	32,412	24,854	16,729
Hills Waste Solutions Ltd	23,573	17,276	9,082	10,147
JBT Waste Services Ltd	17,864	11,826
McGrath Bros (Waste Control) Ltd	73,327	29,854	34,281	7,619
Mid UK Recycling Ltd	17,419	52,481	21,887
N&P Alternative Fuels Ltd	355,944	363,204	289,781	73,010
N+P Recycling B.V.	27
New Earth Solutions (Canford) Ltd	45,822	30,610	34,738	5,740
New Earth Solutions (West) Limited T/A Mid UK Recycling	62,051	38,730	60,966	44,609
Northstone International Ltd		9,809	35,184	6,727
Pericula Ltd	289	1,200	3,794
PM Recycling Ltd	7,555
Powerday PLC	37,886	18,028	17,759	4,114
Probio Energy Ltd	94,802	143,218	167,256	62,423
Quercia Ltd	54,156	58,485	55,589	15,439
REDACTED	870		849
Remondis UK Ltd		5,091	16,413	1,795
Renewi UK Services Ltd		30,053	30,693
Seneca Environmental Solutions Ltd	230,049	155,215	126,137	24,504
Shanks Waste Management Ltd	143,416	117,886	74,997	24,264
Specialised Waste Solutions Ltd		49	170
Street Fuel Ltd	56,041	44,128	23,594	8,449
SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK Ltd	428,609	322,104	280,957	94,708
Thanet Waste Services Ltd	8,471	72
Totus Environmental Ltd	47,909	63,123	34,736	9,688
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	31,033