Evaluating of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) Production from Municipal Solid Waste (Case Study: Qazvin Province)

Considering increasing population growth in recent decades, and consequently, the increase in waste production in the world, waste management and efforts to reduce their harm to the environment has become an important issue. One of the appropriate ways to manage municipal waste is to generate energy from waste, especially by RDF production method. On the other hand, in order to reduce the consumption of fossil fuels in various industries that cause environmental pollution, alternative fuels have become one of the key issues among environmental researchers, for instance providing new fuels with less pollution to cement production plants which use coal as main fuel is increasing. In the present study, the feasibility of producing RDF as an energy supplier in cement factories has been evaluated. For this purpose, in 6 consecutive days, the wastes were collected from Qazvin city and physical and chemical analysis were performed on them. By using the proposed equations, the heating value of the existing waste is calculated. The results show that the heating value of RDF products from wastes is about 9100 Kj/Kg in summer and 9500 Kj/Kg in autumn, about thirty percent of coal heating value. Also by removing food wastes and using the five main RDFs material including paper, cardboard, plastics, PET, textiles, and wood, there will be a significant increase of heating value about 110% compared to the presence of food wastes.