Konferencja w Elblągu – eksperci debatowali o paliwie alternatywnym RDF

Piotr Barczak

Komentarz #2003 dodany 2015-10-11 10:12:06

http://www.letsdoitworld.org/news/waste-energy-not-part-solution-part-problem RDFs are composed mainly of “a mixture that has higher concentrations of combustible materials (like paper, plastics, used tyres, car dismantling residues, sawdust, wood, textiles) than those present in the raw mixed MSW (municipal solid waste)”. Although it is true that transforming these materials into fuel is ranked higher than landfilling in the European hierarchy of waste, it is also true that for all these products and materials there are alternatives ranked significantly higher in the waste hierarchy than burning them, which is the 2nd worst possible option. Transforming recyclable products into fuel and burning them isn’t only an unsustainable way of managing natural resources, but also is a very carbon-intensive way of producing energy, especially when considering that energy savings coming from recycling these materials are far superior to the energy produced from their incineration. Refuse Derived Fuels need landfills Transforming mixed waste into fuel means discarding all the materials with low calorific value and/or drying up organic matter. In any of the cases, it necessitates landfilling the materials that aren’t burnable, the ashes resulting from the burning of RDFs and the organic waste if discarded, as it is contaminated and isn’t fit for producing compost. In this sense, when the article says that RDFs are preferable recovery treatment, it is not only inaccurate but false. RDFs mean landfilling non-burnable compostable and inert materials, and incinerating recyclable resources. Refuse Derived Fuels aren’t cheap and burning them is highly toxic It is argued that RDFs are competitive with fossil fuels, mostly for energy-intensive industries, which is true. However, because of the composition of RDFs, burning them is highly toxic, much more so than the burning of fossil fuels and, as a result special filters are needed to contain dioxins and other toxic elements arising from the combustion of RDFs, particularly plastics. This leads the burning of RDFs to become significantly more expensive either through the installation of pollution-avoiding filters or through the social, environmental and health costs of polluting the air.