Determination of the biogenic and fossil organic matter content of refuse-derived fuels based on elementary analyses

摘要

A method to determine the mass, energy and carbon content of biogenic and fossil matter in refuse-derived fuel (RDF) is described. The method combines standard chemical information about biogenic and fossil material with data from a chemical analysis of the RDF. The data are used to solve a set of equations that deliver the mathematically and statistically derived final result. For the chemical analysis representative samples of the RDF were assessed in a CHNSO elemental analyser. The proposed method was validated by characterizing defined reference mixtures of plastics and biomass (e.g., polyethylene and cardboard). The correlation coefficient (r~2) between the measured and reference values was greater than 0.99. If representative sampling of RDF is assumed, the new method represents a reliable, quick and complementary method for characterizing RDF.