Coal and plastic waste in a PF boiler

Plastics wastes from a municipal solid waste (MSW) plant have a high-energy content and are suitable for co-processing with coal. The addition of 5% p lastic waste to a coal-fired PF power station reduces its efficiency slight ly from 44.0 to 43.7% due to the high moisture content of the plastics. The overall economics however can be favourable. For the cost of electricity t o be the same as the coal only case, the plastic waste could have a value o f up to 23 E/dry tonne to the power station, assuming that it had been prep ared for use. Therefore the maximum amount that the power station can affor d to spend on preparing the plastic waste for use is 23 C/dry tonne plus th e avoided landfill cost, less the transport cost. The location of the power station plays a key role, since this does not only have an effect on the t ransport costs of the waste but also on the landfill charges. The sensitivi ty of the economics of co-processing plastic waste with coal for a variety of power station operational parameters is presented. (C) 2000 Elsevier Sci ence Ltd. All rights reserved.