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Waste Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman
Bio-drying and size sorting of municipal solid waste with high water content
for improving energy recovery
Li-Ming Shao, Zhong-He Ma, Hua Zhang, Dong-Qing Zhang, Pin-Jing He *
State Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse, Key Laboratory of Yangtze River Water Environment, College of Environmental Science and Engineering,
Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, PR China
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Received 18 July 2009
Accepted 7 January 2010
Available online 27 January 2010
a b s t r a c t
Bio-drying can enhance the sortability and heating value of municipal solid waste (MSW), consequently
improving energy recovery. Bio-drying followed by size sorting was adopted for MSW with high water
content to improve its combustibility and reduce potential environmental pollution during the followup incineration. The effects of bio-drying and waste particle size on heating values, acid gas and heavy
metal emission potential were investigated. The results show that, the water content of MSW decreased
from 73.0% to 48.3% after bio-drying, whereas its lower heating value (LHV) increased by 157%. The heavy
metal concentrations increased by around 60% due to the loss of dry materials mainly resulting from biodegradation of food residues. The bio-dried waste fractions with particle size higher than 45 mm were
mainly composed of plastics and papers, and were preferable for the production of refuse derived fuel
(RDF) in view of higher LHV as well as lower heavy metal concentration and emission. However, due
to the higher chlorine content and HCl emission potential, attention should be paid to acid gas and dioxin
pollution control. Although LHVs of the waste fractions with size <45 mm increased by around 2 after
bio-drying, they were still below the quality standards for RDF and much higher heavy metal pollution
potential was observed. Different incineration strategies could be adopted for different particle size fractions of MSW, regarding to their combustibility and pollution property.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The accelerated urbanization has led to an increasing generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) in many countries. MSW
could be treated through incineration for recovering energy since
it contains combustibles like plastics, papers, foods, etc. (AbuQudais and Abu-Qdais, 2000; Hwang et al., 2008; Malkow, 2004;
Rigamonti et al., 2009). Nevertheless, chlorine and heavy metals
are also present in MSW, resulting in pollutant emission during
mixed incineration (Zhang et al., 2009a). To improve the environmental and economic benets of energy recovery from MSW, the
fractions with less pollutant emission potential and better combustibility close to fossil fuel are subjected to incineration and could
be obtained by sorting, mainly mechanized, which is widely used
in the USA and European countries (Rotter et al., 2004; Velis
et al., 2009).
However, MSW in many developing countries, e.g. China, is
characterized by high water content (often more than 70%) due
to a relatively high proportion of food waste (Cheng et al., 2007;
H. Zhang et al., 2008). As a result, the waste is often difcult to real-
ize self-sustained combustion (Haug, 1993), and the energy recovery efciency will be limited by its lower heating value (LHV) (3
6.7 MJ/kg) (Cheng et al., 2007; Norbu et al., 2005; Patumsawad
and Cliffe, 2002). Furthermore, the high water content and the
putrescible property greatly deteriorate the sorting efciency of
the waste or even invalidate the operation (Zhang et al., 2009b),
thus mechanical sorting becomes inoperative.
Bio-drying, which could remove water by air ventilation and
heat produced from biodegradation (Dufour, 2006; Velis et al.,
2009), has been regarded as a good solution to reduce water content of MSW (Rada et al., 2007; D.Q. Zhang et al., 2008). The previous study (Zhang et al., 2009b) had showed that, both sorting
efciency and LHV of MSW were correlated with water content.
Accordingly, bio-drying pretreatment could not only improve
MSW combustibility (represented by lower water content and
higher LHV), but also enhance MSW sortability, indicating a promising potential for the production of refuse derived fuel (RDF).
Screening is a simple but effective sorting method and is used in
many RDF facilities (Juniper, 2005; Norbu et al., 2005). For different
particle size fractions of MSW, their composition and LHV are different, thus energy recovery strategies adopted, e.g. RDF production,
incineration, etc., may be also different. Until now, the feasibility
of energy recovery from MSW with high water content by bio-drying
and size sorting has not been investigated adequately.
1166
1167
Ex
W bio-dried C xbio-dried
W bio-dried C xbio-dried
x
W raw C raw
W bio-dried C xbio-dried V leachate C xleachate
V gas C xgas
W raw C xraw
V solution C xsolution
W bio-dried C xbio-dried V leachate C xleachate
where, Rx and Ex were the ratio of pollutant x (heavy metals, chlorine, and sulfur) retained in the bio-dried waste and transferred
to ue gas during incineration, respectively; Wraw, Wbio-dried, and
Wash were the total dry weight (kg) of the raw waste, bio-dried
waste, and bottom ash; C xraw ; C xbio-dried ; and C xash were the concentration (mg/kg) of pollutant x in the raw waste, bio-dried waste, and
bottom ash; Vleachate, Vgas and Vsolution were the volume (L) of leachate produced during bio-drying, ue gas during incineration, and
absorption solution; C xleachate ; C xgas and C xsolution were the concentration (mg/L) of pollutant x in the leachate, ue gas, and absorption
solution.
3. Results
3.1. A brief description of the bio-drying process
As water in MSW was evaporated and removed by air ventilation and heat of biodegradation reaction during bio-drying
(Dufour, 2006), the termination of the process was determined
based on the difference between the temperature of waste material
and the circumstance temperature, which indicated the potential
of water evaporation. As shown in Fig. 1a, on the 16th day, the
MSW temperature declined to 40 C which was close to the circumstance temperature, suggesting an undesirable water evaporation potential for a prolonged process. Therefore, sixteen days of
bio-drying period were adopted in this study.
Fig. 1 presents the evolution of MSW temperature, VS concentration and water content during bio-drying. The temperature of
the waste increased rapidly over the rst 3 days, and then maintained at a high level (>50 C) until day 12. Then it declined gradually to the circumstance temperature. After bio-drying, the water
content of the nal product declined from the initial 73.0% to
90
70
(a)
65
VS concentration (%)
60
o
Temperature ( C)
85
(b)
55
50
45
40
35
85
80
80
75
75
70
70
65
65
60
60
55
55
50
VS concentration
Water content
50
30
Circumstance temperature
45
10 12 14 16
Time (days)
45
40
40
25
Rx
35
0
10 12 14 16
Time (days)
Fig. 1. Evolution of MSW temperature, VS concentration and water content during bio-drying. (a) MSW temperature; (b) VS concentration and water content.
1168
35
30
Water
Food residuals (in dry weight)
Papers (in dry weight)
Plastics (in dry weight)
25
20
15
10
Raw MSW
Final product
35
30
PR(>60)
PR(45~60)
PR(25~45)
PR(0~25)
25
20
15
10
Chlorine and sulfur concentrations require much attention, because they are sources of acidic pollutants, and important reactive
elements in the formation of dioxins during incineration (Watanabe et al., 2004).
After bio-drying, the chlorine concentrations in PR (>60), PR
(2545) and PR (025) of the nal product increased by 27.0%,
73.6% and 92.2%, respectively. Whereas, chlorine concentration in
PR (4560) was reduced by 27.0%. Moreover, in the nal product,
the chlorine concentration in PR (>60) was the highest, attributed
to the highest content of plastics (Fig. 4). Compared with the chlorine content (2.07%) in the PR (>60), the other three fractions had a
lower chlorine content (<1.35%).
The bio-drying process also resulted in the increase of sulfur
concentrations, by 40.0% for PR (>60), 75.0% for PR (4560),
75.0% for PR (2545) and 70.8% for PR (025). And, there was no
obvious difference in sulfur concentration among the four fractions
of the nal product.
Raw MSW
Final product
Fig. 3. Wet weight of each particle size fraction for the raw MSW and nal product
based on the total MSW input.
Plastics
Papers
Food residues
100
80
60
4. Discussion
40
20
Final
Raw
Raw Final
--MSW product MSWproduct
PR(0~25)
PR(25~45)
Raw Final
-MSWproduct
PR(45~60)
-Raw Final
MSW product
PR(>60)
Fig. 4. Composition of each particle size fraction for the raw MSW and nal product
(in wet weight).
1169
LHV
Cr
Concentration (mg/kg)
Ic (mg/MJ)
Pb
Concentration (mg/kg)
I (mg/MJ)
Cu
Concentration (mg/kg)
I (mg/MJ)
Ni
Concentration (mg/kg)
I (mg/MJ)
Mn
Concentration (mg/kg)
I (mg/MJ)
Zn
Concentration (mg/kg)
I (g/MJ)
Hg
Concentration (mg/kg)
I (mg/MJ)
Chlorine
Concentration (%,w/w)
I (mg/MJ)
Sulfur
Concentration (%,w/w)
I (mg/MJ)
Samples
Mixed
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
4.01
10.3
14.8
19.8
115
177
7.74
8.92
56.8
84.2
3.82
4.24
117
264
7.90
12.6
40.0
64.7
2.69
3.26
29.6
45.9
1.99
2.31
452
622
30.4
31.4
0.96
1.83
0.06
0.09
1.01
1.43
0.0068
0.0072
0.24
0.38
0.0016
0.0019
EURITSa
PR (4560)
PR (2545)
PR (025)
7.66
16.6
21.5
29.1
112
130
5.19
4.45
47.9
52.7
2.22
1.81
111
240
5.15
8.26
33.3
55.8
1.55
1.92
36.0
48.5
1.67
1.67
338
411
15.7
14.1
0.75
0.90
0.03
0.03
1.63
2.07
0.0076
0.0071
0.25
0.35
0.0012
0.0012
8.71
11.3
24.8
24.5
100
103
4.04
4.22
57.6
46.3
2.32
1.89
136
181
5.49
7.37
42.6
40.9
1.72
1.67
40.6
38.0
1.64
1.55
396
439
16.0
17.9
0.85
0.83
0.03
0.03
1.85
1.35
0.0075
0.0055
0.24
0.42
0.0010
0.0017
2.01
5.87
7.21
12.0
92.9
177
12.9
14.8
65.1
90.1
9.03
7.49
86.0
229
11.9
10.7
25.6
61.2
3.55
5.09
23.3
47.7
3.23
3.97
310
587
43.0
48.8
0.96
1.92
0.13
0.16
0.72
1.25
0.0101
0.0104
0.20
0.35
0.0028
0.0029
1.95
6.30
6.69
11.0
132
238
19.8
21.6
57.8
120
8.64
10.8
131
320
19.5
29.0
50.4
80.6
7.53
7.30
25.2
45.7
3.77
4.14
566
706
84.6
64.0
1.12
2.79
0.17
0.25
0.51
0.98
0.0076
0.0089
0.24
0.41
0.0037
0.0037
Germanyb
15
18
200
14
200
n.ad
200
56
200
8.9
200
n.a
500
n.a
2
0.07
0.5
only declaration
0.4
n.a
a
Standard quality of waste to be co-combusted in the cement plant established by European Association of Waste Thermal Treatment Companies for Specialized Waste
(EURITS) (Gendebien et al., 2003).
b
Quality standards for RDF in Germany (Rotter et al., 2004).
c
Basis for conversion of mg/kgdry into mg/MJ (Rotter et al., 2004).
d
Not available.
1170
Table 2
Potential emissions of heavy metals, HCl and SOx in incineration ue gas for each size fraction.
Parameters
Samples
Mixed
Cr (mg/kg)
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
Raw MSW
Final product
0.020
0.057
0.189
0.252
1.14
1.49
1.31
3.70
21.8
25.7
0.071
0.154
3.54
9.52
1.14
1.31
Pb (mg/kg)
Cu (mg/kg)
Mn (mg/kg)
Zn (mg/kg)
Hg (mg/kg)
HCl (mg/kg)
SOx (mg/kg)
PR (4560)
PR (2545)
PR (025)
0.007
0.019
0.207
0.156
1.08
0.950
0.913
1.22
15.9
24.4
0.069
0.143
6.82
18.2
0.859
1.29
0.053
0.015
0.107
0.078
0.970
0.878
0.507
1.13
20.0
15.1
0.113
0.130
10.5
10.5
0.785
0.971
0.013
0.027
0.160
0.267
1.30
1.48
4.06
6.59
23.5
21.9
0.024
0.114
0.846
6.95
1.03
1.16
0.020
0.110
0.220
0.380
1.14
2.12
0.447
5.60
25.2
31.4
0.081
0.184
0.623
2.88
1.49
1.48
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