Technical Details - Fuel Bricks
Conservation Fuel Solutions have devised a new way to use all of your waste paper and turn this into paper fuel. This paper energy can be used to heat your home. We call this product 'fuel bricks'. Below is the technical background to the to how the formula came about.
Introduction Since the early seventies Governments, Local Authorities and Private Industries have worked together, in an attempt to recycle valuable products from commercial and domestic refuse. Metals, glass, compost, and the combustible fractions for use as a fuel, are reclaimed from refuse. Recycling plants are now in existence, both in Europe and the USA.
Commercial Viability of Recycled Products Reclaimed products from refuse, particularly the case with the compost, and the refuse derived fuel fractions, have a major problem, i.e. the sale of the separated products on the open market in a commercially acceptable manner. Many recycling plants have failed to achieve commercial viability with consistent regularity, selling their products at break-even cost, or in some cases at a loss, simply to 'get rid' of their produce. They often rely on payments received for refuse disposal from Local Government, i.e. moneys paid by Local Authorities for 'straight forward disposal'.
Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) / Combustible Fractions Of the four main products which can be won from a waste reclamation plant, i.e. metals, glass, compost and fuel, is the fuel derived from the 'light fractions' (paper/cardboard etc.), which holds the most promise. After all, the combustible fractions form the largest portion of commercial and domestic refuses, approx. 30 to 40% by weight, and approx. 70t by volume, thus representing the most voluminous and expensive part of refuse disposal.
As a fuel, the light fractions can be shredded and blown into a furnace, mixed with powdered coal, or compressed into pellets or briquettes, for more economic transportation to sites with steam raising needs. Such RDF pellets can then be mixed with coal (mixtures from 20't to 50't RDF have been burnt with coal). However, such RDF pellets 'as a solid fuel in their own right', with approx. 50% of the calorific value of average coal and 4 times as much ash to match the thermic output of coal, have indeed limited appeal to coal users. Various parameters which prevent the use of RDF pellets as a replacement for coal, are described below:
1. RDF pellet's cannot be burnt efficiently in conventional coal boilers without drastic boiler modifications, i.e. a much larger fire box/grate, modified air flow system, additional ash handling equipment, etc.
2. When RDF pellets are mixed with coal, there are significant losses in boiler efficiency due to a lack of intimacy between the high volatile pellets and the relatively low volatile coal.
3. RDF pellets cannot be burnt by themselves in conventional boilers designed for coal, because their calorific value (approx. 1/2 of coal), is too low in relation to their high ash Level. RDF pellets have 15% + ash, compared to 6 - 8% ash for average coal. This means, to get the rated output from a modified coal fired boiler, twice the volume of RDF pellets would be required, resulting in a 30% ash load. This extra load on the boiler would drop the efficiency to unacceptable levels, besides creating a formidable ash disposal problem.
Up-Grading of Refuse Derived Fuel to a Coal Equivalent Product In conclusion it becomes clear that it is a difficult task to sell RDF pellets to coal users with conventional boiler plants. No matter how much discount is given to allow for the disadvantages compared to coal, the potential customer will rightly ask 'If RDF pellets would burn more like coal, with the same ash level and good calorific value, we would certainly be interested, especially if available cheaper than coal.....
There is a simple solution to eliminate Refuse Derived Fuel Pellet problems at a stroke - by adding a waste material from the oil industry, Petroleum Coke.
There are approx. 10 million tonnes p.a. of fuel grade petroleum coke available from the USA alone, of which over 4 m tonnes are shipped into Europe via Rotterdam, the remainder to other destinations. The USA consumes only a fraction of their fuel petroleum coke at home.
In addition to the American refineries, petroleum coke is produced in the following countries: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, West Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Spain, Syria, Yugoslavia and the USSR.Argentina, West Germany and Indonesia being the largest producers after the USA.
