अमूर्त

Enhancement of calorific value of municipal organics with suitable additives for RDF

Namasivayam Vasudevan, Alagan Nachan, Odukkathil Greeshma

The increasing amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) in developing countries, especially in municipal area, currently is a severe problem and needs proper management. Source reduction and reuse are the most desirable solid waste management since they are the most effective way to reduce the quantity of waste and resource consumption, followed by recycling/composting. Combustion can reduce the quantity of waste being sent to landfill by 90% and hence saves landfill space. In this regard, RDF is one form of energy recovery from waste. Since MSW has low calorific value it is difficult to use raw MSW as a fuel. RDF presents several advantages as a fuel over raw MSW. The main objective of the present studywas to produce RDF with high calorific value using biomaterials like coconut coir, saw dust, Pongamia seeds and ground nut shell. In the present study it was revealed that addition of biomaterials can enhance the calorific value of RDF.Among the four biomaterials used RDF prepared usingMSWand the Pongamia seed showed higher calorific value of 4090 kcal/kg. Hence Pongamia seeds can be used in RDF preparation but in regard to the availability of the biomaterial saw dust and ground nut shell can formamore suitable biomaterial to increase the calorific value ofMSW RDF.