Refuse Derived Fuel

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Revision as of 12:32, 20 December 2019 by Arctellion (talk | contribs)

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.

Export Yearly

Data shown if for export from England only, and both RDF and SRF tonnage have been combined, for simplicity.

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
month on month export with trend

Year on Year Differences

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Data Table
Year Tonnage Shipped Increase on Previous Percentage Change
2011 251,450 - -
2012 1,009,971 +758,520 301.7%
2013 1,963,362 +953,390 48.6%
2014 2,661,870 +698,508 35.6%
2015 3,211,635 +549,765 20.7%
2016 3,530,858 +319,222 9.9%
2017 3,460,663 -70,194 -2.0%
2018 3,222,711 -237,952 -6.9%
2019 (Quarters 1-3) 2,008,235 -1,214,476 -37.7%

Exporters

Exporters from the UK during the years 2017/8 and first 3 quarters of 2019.

Company 2017 2018 2019
Abn Paris Sas 0 2,244 0
Andusia Recovered Fuels Ltd 180,644 157,690 104,040
Associated Waste Management Ltd 53,711 39,982 31,712
Baco-Compak (Norfolk) Ltd 7,077 5,062 849
Bagnall & Morris Waste Services Ltd 17,115 18,668 6,717
Bertling Enviro Ab 89,208 171,445 102,968
Biffa Waste Services Ltd 463,102 358,290 254,473
Bywaters (1986) Ltd 24,789 0 0
Camreg Ltd 26,170 21,183 0
Cellmark Uk Ltd 14,231 1,956 0
Chambers Waste Management Plc 24,907 2,554 0
Combineering A/S 4,759 13,610 3,723
Countrystyle Recycling Ltd 90,848 64,260 41,287
Efo Ab 4,932 9,835 4,778
FCC Recycling (Uk) Ltd 187,944 168,850 67,512
Frimstone Ltd 15,282 14,690 9,168
Gemi Uk Ltd 14,025 0 0
Geminor Uk Ltd 329,069 437,009 229,323
Greenway Waste Recycling 77 0 0
Grundon Waste Management Ltd 32,412 24,854 14,266
Hills Waste Solutions Ltd 23,573 17,276 6,388
Jbt Waste Services Ltd 17,864 11,826 0
Mcgrath Bros (Waste Control) Ltd 73,327 29,854 28,237
Mid Uk Recycling Ltd 17,419 52,481 21,887
N + P Alternative Fuels Ltd 360,303 364,872 235,120
New Earth Solutions (Canford) Ltd 45,822 30,610 26,366
New Earth Solutions (West) Ltd 62,051 38,730 31,945
Northstone International Ltd 0 9,809 23,596
Pericula Ltd 289 1,200 3,794
Pm Recycling Ltd 7,555 0 0
Powerday Plc 37,886 18,028 13,053
Probio Energy International Ltd 94,802 143,218 100,957
Quercia Ltd 54,156 58,485 42,463
Redacted 870 0 0
Remondis Ltd 0 5,091 12,943
Renewi Uk Services Ltd 0 30,053 24,186
Seneca Environmental Solutions Ltd 230,049 155,215 98,575
Shanks Waste Management Ltd 143,416 117,886 57,442
Specialised Waste Solutions Ltd 0 49 170
Street Fuel Ltd 56,041 44,128 19,308
Suez Recycling And Recovery Uk Ltd 428,609 322,104 187,207
Taurus Waste Recycling Ltd 420 0 0
Thanet Waste Services Ltd 8,471 72 0
Totus Environmental Ltd 47,909 63,379 30,612
Veolia Es (Uk) Ltd 155,917 164,010 129,932
Weir Waste Services Ltd 13,613 1,895 0
West Sussex Britaniacrest Seneca Partnership Ltd 0 30,260 43,235

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

  1. Typical ranges for Residual Waste as a Comparison
  2. Not generally defined for exports to EU (no biomass requirements.)
  3. 3.0 3.1 Not generally defined in a fuel spec