COMBUSTION OF AN ARTIFICIAL MUNICIPAL SOLID-WASTE IN A LABORATORY FLUIDIZED-BED REACTOR

The aim of this project was to prepare an artificial municipal solid w aste (MSW) fuel for combustion experiments in a laboratory-scale fluid ised bed reactor. The major advantages with an artificial MSW are that : (i) the composition is very homogeneous; (ii) the content of element s is very well-known; and (iii) the mixture can easily be changed as t he MSW content is changed. A well-controlled combustion process togeth er with an artificial fuel enables detailed studies of the formation m echanisms of organic micropollutants (OMP), such as polychlorinated di benzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs). The design and preparation of an artificial MSW fuel are described in thi s paper. The similarity in emission levels and homologue profile of th e PCDD/Fs in the artificial MSW fuel combustion and in full-scale MSW combustors indicates that the artificial fuel mixture gave the same pr ecursor formation and catalytic reactions that full-scale MSW combusti on, i.e. the most important reaction pathways are the same in the two systems.