ABSTRACT
Concurrent combustion of biomass and municipal solid waste (MSW) offers a method of electricity and heat generation using renewable energy resources. At small scale, biomass is recognised as a form of renewable energy that is capable of meeting both heat and electricity demand most effectively in the form of combined heat and power, contributing towards international commitments to minimise environmental damage [1]. Further efficiency in using biomass can be obtained where thermal conversion occurs adjacent to areas of demand (such as cities) for cooling, i.e. “tri-generation,” or combined cooling, heating and electrical power. Therefore, small-scale biomass combustion offers an excellent method to exploit heat energy. In contrast, wind turbines and large-scale pulverised fuel power stations are primarily used to produce electricity only, where
the pulverised fuel may contain biomass for co-firing. Within waste management government policy, energy recovery from MSW is seen as an essential requirement for diverting waste from landfill disposal. As a result of Europe-wide legislation and government targets to minimise the environmental impact of landfill disposal, for example it is forecast that energy recovery within UK is expected to comprise 25% of MSW disposal by 2020; recent rates are 10% [2]. Combustion of biomass is often assumed to provide nil net anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions and carbon emissions associated with biomass collection and distribution activities are similar to those for fossil fuels [3] and therefore may be accepted as being of minimal damage to the environment. In contrast, the combustion of MSW is often considered to be detrimental both to human health and environmental management primarily because of various gaseous pollutants, most commonly public health risk concern about poly-chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans [4]. The most common assessment of biomass and MSW fuels has been to investigate combustion of biomass with coal, or coal with MSW. This paper is an investigation into the combustion of biomass and source separated MSW, specifically the extent of gaseous emissions.
