Chap 29 PDF

The Babcock & Wilcox Company
Chapter 29
Waste-to-Energy Installations
The disposal of garbage is a problem that has ex- food scraps due to home garbage disposals, the aver-
isted since civilization began. At various times age refuse heating value has increased and the mois-
throughout history, composting, animal feed, landfill ture content has decreased (Table 2). As more recy-
and incineration have all been popular disposal meth- cling programs are implemented, the analysis will
ods. Today, refuse disposal methods are determined by continue to change. As glass, aluminum and other
cost and the effect on our environment. metals are recycled, the refuse heating value will in-
The most common means of refuse disposal is still crease; as paper and plastics are recycled the heating
landfilling. Even in the late 1970s, nearly all of the value will decrease.
refuse generated in North America was landfilled. In 2000, approximately 232 million tons (210 mil-
Incineration with no heat recovery was a popular op- lion tm) of MSW were generated in the U.S. About 30%
tion that became economically unacceptable with the of that total was recycled (including composting), 15%
advent of environmentally responsible air pollution sent to refuse-to-energy facilities, and the balance
regulations and inexpensive landfill alternatives. landfilled. The growth of refuse-to-energy facilities in
In Europe and Japan, where new landfill sites were the U.S. accelerated in the 1980s and early 1990s (Fig.
less available, incineration continued as a viable op- 2) due to the growing disposal costs for landfills and a
tion and those plants became the predecessors of government-created market for the sale of electric power.
today’s refuse-to-energy plants. Heat recovery was As old landfills closed, new landfills became more
added in the form of waste heat boilers which were difficult and costly to open and tended to be located
originally hot water boilers and later low pressure and farther from the source of the refuse, increasing trans-
temperature steam boilers. These incinerators with portation costs. Concerns about ground water contami-
waste heat boilers then evolved into waterwall boil- nation resulted in more expensive landfill designs with
ers with integral stokers. several containment layers and leachate monitoring
Refuse-fired boiler design parameters and operat- and control systems. The passage of the Public Utility
ing characteristics are strongly affected by the com-
ponents of the refuse, which change with time. The
components also vary greatly by location. In North Wood
Other
3%
America, typical municipal solid waste (MSW) is high 6%
in paper and plastics content (Fig. 1) and typically has Glass
a lesser moisture content and greater heating value 6%
than that found worldwide. In a less industrialized Rubber, Leather
country the refuse tends to have a greater moisture and Textiles Paper
36%
7%
and ash content and lesser heating value. Table 1
shows representative refuse analyses ranging from
3000 to 6000 Btu/lb (6978 to 13,956 kJ/kg) higher
heating value (HHV) basis.* Metals
In the United States (U.S.) and North America, the 8%
refuse characteristics have changed dramatically in
a short period of time. With more and more conve-
nience foods, plastics, packaging, containers, and less
Plastics
11%
* Throughout this chapter, fuel energy content, or heat-
ing value, is stated as the higher (or gross) heating value Food Scraps Yard Trimmings
which includes the total energy in the fuel without cor- 11% 12%
recting for losses due to water evaporation. Fig. 1 U.S. municipal solid waste generation – 2001.
Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations 29-1

Table 1
Range Of As-Received Refuse Fuel Analysis
Weight Percent As-Received
HHV, Btu/lb 3,000 3,500 4,000 4,500 5,000 5,500 6,000
(kJ/kg) (6,978) (8,141) (9,304) (10,467) (11,630) (12,793) (13,956)
Carbon 16.88 19.69 22.50 25.32 28.13 30.94 33.76

Hydrogen 2.33 2.72 3.10 3.49 3.88 4.27 4.66
Oxygen 12.36 14.42 16.49 18.55 20.62 22.68 24.75
Nitrogen 0.22 0.26 0.30 0.34 0.38 0.42 0.46
Sulfur 0.15 0.18 0.21 0.24 0.27 0.30 0.33
Chlorine 0.34 0.38 0.42 0.46 0.50 0.54 0.58
Moisture 35.72 32.35 29.98 28.60 25.22 22.85 21.46
Ash 32.00 30.00 27.00 23.00 21.00 18.00 14.00
Total 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00
Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) required to the stoker charging hopper. Hydraulic rams located
public utilities to purchase the electric power gener- in the charging hopper move the refuse onto the stoker
ated by refuse-to-energy plants. This created a rev- grates. The combustible portion of the refuse is burned
enue flow that helped offset the inherent high capi- off and the non-combustible portion passes through and
tal cost of these plants. These market forces resulted drops into the ash pit for reclamation or disposal.
in a proliferation of refuse-to-energy facilities in the The second burning technique uses prepared refuse,
northeast U.S. where the costs of landfill and other or refuse-derived fuel (RDF), where the as-received
disposal options were the highest, and selectively refuse is first separated, classified, and reclaimed in
throughout North America in response to local envi- various ways to yield salable or otherwise recyclable
ronmental or economic factors. products (Fig. 4). The remaining material is then
Refuse disposal is a major problem worldwide and shredded and fed into the furnace through multiple
there is no single solution. An environmentally sound feeders onto a traveling grate stoker. The RDF is
refuse disposal program includes generating less burned, part in suspension and part on a stoker. The
refuse, recycling components that can be economically RDF can also be used as a fuel in circulating fluid-
reused, combustion of the balance of the refuse (in- ized-bed (CFB) boilers and in bubbling fluidized-bed
cluding the efficient generation of electric power), and (BFB) boilers. More finely shredded RDF can be fired
the landfill of the resulting ash. in suspension to supplement conventional fuels in
large boilers used for power generation.
Refuse combustion alternatives
Two main techniques are used for burning munici- Corrosion
pal refuse, distinguished by the degree of fuel prepa- Combustion products from municipal refuse are
ration. The first technique, known as mass burning, very corrosive. The components that are present in
uses the refuse in its as-received, unprepared state coal, oil and other fuels that contribute to corrosion,
(Fig. 3). Only large or non-combustible items such as as well as to high slagging and high fouling, are all
tree stumps, discarded appliances, and other bulky present in refuse (Table 3). Corrosion in refuse-fired
items are removed. Refuse collection vehicles dump the boilers is usually caused by the chloride compounds
refuse directly into storage pits. Overhead cranes which deposit on the furnace, superheater and boiler
equipped with grapples move the refuse from the pit tubes. Several modes of chloride corrosion may occur:
Table 2
U.S. Refuse Trends
Increasing heating value per ton of refuse

1960  4,200 Btu/lb (9,769 kJ/kg)
1980  4,500 Btu/lb (10,467 kJ/kg)
2000  5,200 Btu/lb (12,095 kJ/kg)
More paper and paperboard
33% in 1970
37% in 2000
More plastics
2.7% in 1970
10.7% in 2000
Fig. 2 U.S. refuse-to-energy market.
29-2 Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations

1. corrosion by hydrochlorides (HCl) in the combus- Refuse

Feed Hopper
tion gas,
2. corrosion by NaCl and KCl deposits on tube sur-
faces,
3. corrosion by low melting point metal chlorides
(mainly ZnCl2 and PbCl2), and
4. out-of-service corrosion by wet salts on the tube
surface. Boiler
The rate of tube metal loss due to corrosion is tem-

perature dependent with high metal temperatures
correlating with high rates of metal loss (Fig. 5). Refuse
Receiving Area
Refuse
Pit
Refuse boilers operating at higher steam pressures
have higher temperature saturated water in the fur-
nace tubes and, therefore, these furnace tubes have
higher metal temperatures. Superheater tube metal
temperatures are directly related to the steam tempera- Plunger
Ash Extractor
ture inside the tubes. In both cases, it is the tempera-
ture of the water or steam inside the tube that largely Ash Removal
controls the tube metal temperature, rather than the
Fig. 3 Mass burning schematic.
temperature of the flue gas outside of the tube.
Furnace-side corrosion can be aggravated by poor
water chemistry control. If water-side deposits are which can rapidly accelerate corrosion. Therefore, some
permitted to form, tube wall metal temperatures will form of corrosion protection is needed. Typically, the
rise and furnace corrosion will be accelerated. Stan- area of protection will encompass all four walls up to
dards for feedwater and boiler water quality are based 30 ft (9.1 m) above the grate where there is reasonable
on boiler operating pressures. These standards are no assurance that an oxidizing atmosphere is prevalent
more stringent for refuse-fired units than for other and that combustion has been substantially completed.
fuels. However, the maintenance of feedwater and
boiler water quality, and adherence to those stan- Mass-fired units
dards, is more critical on refuse-fired boilers due to the A variety of solutions have been developed and
highly corrosive nature of the fuel. used to address the issue of corrosion in the lower fur-
nace. The lower furnace walls of virtually all mass-
Lower furnace corrosion fired units have been protected by one or more of the
The lower furnace environment of both mass-fired following three systems: 1) pin studs with silicon car-
and RDF-fired units is constantly changing between bide (SiC) refractory, 2) ceramic tiles manufactured
an oxidizing atmosphere (an excess of O2 beyond that from SiC (see Fig. 6), or 3) Inconel® weld cladding of
needed for combustion) and a reducing atmosphere the membrane tube panels.
(a deficiency of O2 below that needed for combustion) The quality and physical characteristics of the sili-
Fig. 4 RDF burning schematic.

Silicon
Carbide
Table 3 Tiles
Corrosive Constituents in Fuels Furnace
Wall Panel
Coal Oil Refuse
Sodium Sodium Sodium Chloride
Sulfur Sulfur Sulfur Lead
Potassium Vanadium Potassium Zinc
Vanadium
con carbide refractory placed over the pin studs must

be maintained through proper application and curing.
Lack of control during installation will result in refrac-
tory spalling, deterioration, and increased mainte-
nance. The refractory material should have a high
rate of thermal conductivity to maximize the effective- Fig. 6 Silicon carbide tiles for lower furnace wall corrosion protection.
ness of the water-cooled surface it is protecting. The
pin stud pattern, pin stud length and pin stud diam-
eter must be carefully chosen for its ability to hold the proach for lower furnace corrosion protection in new
refractory in place and to maximize the heat transfer European designs. In such units, high temperature
through the stud to the furnace wall tubes. This, in gunned-on and cast refractory systems also continue
turn, serves two purposes. One is to provide maximum to be used in selected areas of the furnace where heat
cooling to keep as low a refractory temperature as absorption must be limited or heat must be radiated
possible. Maintaining a low refractory surface tem- back into the combustion zone while still providing
perature has a dramatic effect on refractory life, fur- corrosion protection. Typically, refractory is used on:
nace wall fouling and maintenance costs. Second, with 1) furnace arch areas over the grate feed and burn-
more heat removed in this lower furnace area, less heat- out zones, 2) on the intermediate elevation furnace
ing surface is required in the upper furnace to achieve walls where heat absorption must be minimized to
the desired flue gas temperature leaving the furnace. maintain adequate furnace temperatures during con-
SiC tiles have a much harder and smoother surface tinuous low-load firing, and 3) on the furnace walls
than that produced with the pin studs and refractory; in smaller boilers where the ratio of furnace wall area
therefore, the tiles are more resistant to spalling and to furnace volume is so high that the gas temperature
less prone to slag buildup. The attachment system within the furnace is suppressed below the point re-
used to anchor the ceramic tiles to the furnace walls quired for optimal combustion (see Fig. 7).
must keep the tiles in contact with the furnace walls The furnace side walls along the grate line gener-
in order to cool the tiles. The anchors must also per- ally experience the most erosion due to the scrubbing
mit movement between the tiles to minimize expan- action of the refuse fuel and ash as it moves along the
sion stresses that may damage the tiles. grate to the ash discharge. Increased erosion-resistant
Inconel weld overlay has gained general accep- SiC materials are available for these zones. They do,
tance since the year 2000 for application in the lower however, have lower thermal conductivities.
furnace walls of large mass-fired boilers, as it had ear- An alternative near the grate line is the use of
lier for RDF-fired boilers. The good corrosion resis- armour blocks or refractory blocks, rigidly attached to
tance, high thermal conductivity, metallurgical bond the furnace walls. These blocks extend up the full
to the base tube and membrane bar metals, and wear height of the charging hopper opening which is about
resistance have made Inconel overlay the primary ap- 4 ft (1.2 m) high at the front of the furnace and tapers
off to about 1 ft (0.3 m) high at the ash discharge end
(Fig. 8).
Another method used for protection of the furnace
walls immediately adjacent to the grate is the use of a
separate water-cooled wear zone panel placed horizon-
tally along the grate line and in front of the lower
furnace walls as shown in Fig. 7. A flexible tight seal
is created between the wear zone panel and the ver-
tical furnace wall to accommodate expansion between
the top-supported boiler and the bottom-supported
grate structure. Depending upon the cooling water
temperature and corrosion potential, the water-cooled
wear zone panel may be protected from corrosion by
Inconel weld overlay similar to the boiler walls. This
low maintenance design provides a relatively cool
surface which resists the buildup of significant slag
while also providing corrosion protection and wear
Fig. 5 Corrosion rate of carbon steel in chlorine and hydrogen chloride. resistance with little demand for maintenance.

Fig. 7 Corrosion protection and design of a 26 t/h mass-fired unit.
RDF-fired units Inconel material as a solution to this lower furnace

Prior to the late 1980s, RDF boilers were installed corrosion problem. In 1986, following rapid corrosion
with bare carbon steel tubes in the lower furnace and of the bare carbon steel tubes, the lower furnace of the
no corrosion protection. It was thought that with the Lawrence, Massachusetts unit was covered with a weld
more even combustion with a processed fuel, corrosion overlay of Inconel material. This overlay proved to be
would not be a concern in the lower furnace. Early effective in minimizing corrosion in the lower furnace.
units, operating at low steam pressures and tempera- Based on this early experience, the industry followed
tures, did not experience corrosion problems. However, B&W’s lead and Inconel weld overlay was subse-
as higher pressure and temperature units went into quently field applied to the lower furnace of a number
operation, corrosion increased and lower furnace pro- of operating boilers.
tection was needed. For the RDF boilers supplied as part of the refuse-
The same pin stud and refractory design used on to-energy plant in Palm Beach County, Florida, the
mass-fired units has also been tried on RDF units. This decision was made to add the Inconel protection prior
solved the corrosion problem but created another. In- to manufacture. A bimetallic tube construction was
herent in the RDF combustion process is a high de- used consisting of a carbon steel inner tube co-extruded
gree of suspension firing and high flame temperatures with an Inconel outer tube (Fig. 9). These boilers went
in the lower furnace. When pin studs and refractory into operation in 1989 and the Inconel bimetallic tubes
are applied, the lower furnace tubes are insulated, re- have proven to be an effective means of reducing lower
sulting in less heat transfer and hotter flue gas tempera- furnace corrosion. Today, Inconel bimetallic tubing and
tures in the lower furnace. This, in turn, can result in carbon steel tubing with an Inconel weld overlay are
significant slagging on the refractory wall surface. Pin the industry standard for lower furnace corrosion pro-
studs and refractory were tried at two RDF facilities. tection in RDF-fired boilers.
However, increased furnace slagging resulted, and even-
tually the pin studs and refractory were removed.
The industry needed a material that was resistant Mass burning
to the chloride corrosion found in refuse boilers while Mass burning is the most common refuse combus-
not insulating the lower furnace tubes. The Babcock tion technology worldwide. When the market for
& Wilcox Company (B&W) pioneered the use of refuse-to-energy facilities expanded rapidly in the

The net result of these characteristics of the mar-

ket resulted in many early refuse units experiencing
operating problems related to:
1. high rates of slagging in the furnace,
2. higher gas temperature leaving the furnace re-
sulting in overheating of superheaters and exces-
sive fouling in the convection section,
3. tube failures from accelerated corrosion that were
metal temperature related, and
4. concerns about the creation of dioxins (polychlo-
Superheater rinated dibenzoparadioxin, PCDD) and furans
(polychlorinated dibenzofurans, PCDF) during
the combustion process that were related to less
than optimum combustion systems, particularly
less than optimum turbulence and mixing of fuel
and air in the lower furnace.
Boiler
Bank Each of these problems has been taken into consid-
eration as the design of mass-fired boilers has evolved.
Top of
Overall boiler design and gas flow path
Refractory
(Rearwall)
B&W offers two basic designs for large mass-fired
boilers. Fig. 12 shows a typical mass burn unit sup-
Top of Refractory
(Frontwall and
plied in the U. S. while Fig. 13 illustrates a horizontal
Sidewalls) convection pass unit supplied in Europe. Both are
single drum, top-supported, natural circulation boil-
ers capable of supplying superheated steam at a range
of pressures and temperatures to meet individual site
requirements. The steam drums are supplied with the
appropriate steam separation equipment to supply
high purity dry steam to the superheater while spray
attemperators closely control the steam temperature.
Legend The furnaces are fully water-cooled with membrane
Pin Studs wall construction using the appropriate corrosion pro-
and Refractory tection system (see earlier discussion). Cleaning of
SiC Tile
boiler surfaces is accomplished by a combination of
mechanical rapping and sootblowers as discussed later
SiC Block
in this chapter. Both designs utilize a reciprocating
combustion grate and similar lower furnace configu-
Stoker Grate rations to provide efficient burnout of the fuel before
the ash is discharged. The gas flow paths of the two units
Fig. 8 Refractory type and location, mass-fired unit. differ to meet market requirements and preferences.
As shown in Fig. 12 for the U.S. market design, the
U.S. in the early 1980s, many of the U.S. refuse plants combustion products from the grate flow upward
(Fig. 10) adopted the well-proven mass burning tech- through the single furnace pass to provide sufficient
nology that had been developed in Europe. A modern residence time and temperature to burn the fuel con-
B&W European mass burn power plant is shown in Fig.
11. The boiler is a multi-pass, top-supported design.
Some major differences in the application of the Inconel® Outer Layer
European technology in the U.S. resulted in several
operational problems. U.S. applications tend to require
large units to accommodate larger regional facilities
than European and Japanese applications. U.S.
plants were designed to operate at significantly higher
operating pressures and temperatures to take advan- Carbon
Steel
tage of the economics of production and sale of elec- Core
tric power while typical non-U.S. applications pro-
duced hot water and low pressure steam for heating
applications. U.S. refuse fuel typically had a higher
heating value and lower moisture content. Finally,
these units were first installed at a time when envi- Furnace Side
ronmental concerns were increasing. Fig. 9 Bimetallic tube.

Fig. 10 Typical U.S. mass burning refuse-to-energy system.
Steam Secondary Primary Electrostatic Stack

Drum Superheater Superheater Precipitator
Tertiary Economizer
Superheater
Furnace
Scrubber
Modules
Charging
Crane
Fuel
Feed
Grate
Induced
Ash Extractor Silencer Draft Fan
Fig. 11 B&W European mass burning power plant.

Attemperator Superheater the third pass to cool the flue gas to the required gas
Outlet Header
temperature before entering the horizontal convection
pass. Additional parallel flow boiler circuits or baffles
Penthouse
Steam Drum in the form of widely spaced tube panels are typically
Superheater used in the third pass to increase the heat absorption.
Inlet Header The flue gas flow path is designed to provide reason-
ably uniform cross-section flow and temperature dis-
Boiler Bank tributions throughout by the use of physical and nu-
merical computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model-
Superheater Economizer ing (see Chapter 6). Noses or arches (not shown) are
used at the first pass exit, second pass inlet and third
pass inlet, while inclined walls and roofs are used in
each pass to achieve the desired flue gas distribution.
The bottom-supported convection pass contains a
Top of
Refractory series of convection heat transfer surface sections in
the direction of gas flow: steam generating surface,
secondary superheater, tertiary superheater, primary
Refuse superheater, more steam generating surface in some
Feed Furnace
Hopper cases, and finally the economizer before the gas exits
Auxiliary
the boiler enclosure. The convection pass surfaces are
Burners arranged to minimize corrosion, and are widely spaced
Ram
to prevent pluggage and allow adequate space for
Feeder
Downcomer
mechanical sootblowing equipment. The first steam
generating surface protects the superheater from high
Overfire temperature peaks. The secondary and tertiary su-
Air System perheaters are designed for parallel steam and flue gas
Grate flow to minimize metal temperatures and corrosion. The
second optional steam generating surface may be used
to cool the flue gas to avoid steaming in the economizer.
Boiler plant sizing

A refuse plant must be sized to handle the physical
Primary Air
Ash Extractor amount of refuse that is delivered to that plant, re-
gardless of the refuse heating value. A refuse boiler,
on the other hand, is a heat input device and must be
Fig. 12 Typical U.S. mass burning unit.
sized for the maximum heat input expected. When
designing a refuse boiler, consideration must be given
stituents and other hydrocarbons, and cool the flue to both the design tons per day of refuse to be com-
gas to the required furnace exit gas temperature be- busted and the typical range of heating values that
fore entering the superheater. Where required, the is expected for the refuse in that location.
design provides the necessary reaction time for a se- The boiler is typically designed for the maximum
lective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) process to con- ton per day input at the maximum refuse heating
trol nitrogen oxides (NOx). The flue gas then turns 90 value. A 1000 t/d (907 tm/d) refuse plant is actually not
degrees around a large furnace arch to pass through the same size plant in all locations. As an example, a
the crossflow superheater section before turning down- plant in an industrialized country might be designed
ward to flow parallel through the longflow boiler to handle refuse with a heating value of approxi-
steam generating bank. The flue gas then flows up- mately 5500 Btu/lb (12,793 kJ/kg), or 458 × l06 Btu/h
ward through the crossflow economizer section and (134 MWt) total heat input to the boilers. At the other
exits the boiler enclosure. extreme, a plant in a less industrialized country might
As shown in Fig. 13 for the European market de- be designed to handle refuse with a heating value in
sign, a multiple pass furnace is used to cool the flue the range of 3500 Btu/lb (8141 kJ/kg), or 292 × 106
gas. The combustion products leave the grate and lower Btu/h (85.6 MWt) total heat input. Both are 1000 t/d
furnace to pass upward through the first open furnace (907 tm/d) plants, but one has refuse boilers that have
pass and then downward through the second open a 50% larger capacity in terms of heat input.
pass. As noted earlier, a portion of the first pass may For many of the early U.S. plants, good data were
be covered with high SiC cast refractory to reduce heat not available on the true range of heating values of
absorption and permit the flue gas to maintain a suit- the refuse. Refuse boilers were sized for typical heat-
able high temperature for a specified period of time ing values of 4500 Btu/lb (10,467 kJ/kg). When the
for complete combustion of the fuel constituents and actual heating values were found to be as high as 5200
other hydrocarbons in smaller boilers and at lower load to 5500 Btu/lb (12,095 to 12,793 kJ/kg), the boilers
in larger units. At the bottom of the second open pass, were actually undersized and could not process the
the flue gas turns 180 degrees to pass upward through available refuse on a ton per day basis.

Steam Boiler Tertiary

Drum Circuit Superheater
Secondary Primary Economizer

Superheater Superheater
Enclosures-Steam
Generating Surface
Gas
Outlet
Second
Pass
First
Pass
Refuse
Charging
Hopper Gas
Auxiliary Third Additional

Burner Pass Boiler
Circuits
(In Third
Pass)
Overfire
Feeder Air
Lower Furnace
Grate Downcomers
Ash
Extractor
Fig. 13 Typical European mass burning unit.
Stoker capacity width and 65 lb/h ft2 (2.74 kg/h m2) of grate area. The
A refuse stoker has both a heat input limit and a grate surface area is set by a grate release rate gen-
ton per day refuse throughput limit. If a typical 1000 erally in the range of 270,000 to 350,000 Btu/h ft2 (852
t/d (907 tm/d) refuse plant has two 500 t/d (454 tm/d) to 1104 kW/m 2), but may be lower for low heating
boilers, and the design refuse heating value is 5000 value, high moisture fuels. The design limits stated
Btu/lb (11,630 kJ/kg), each boiler would have a maxi- above represent typical values for equipment installed
mum heat input limit of 208.3 × l06 Btu/h (61.1 MWt). in North America. Stokers supplied for European and
If the actual refuse heating value is above 5000 Btu/lb Asian refuse installations have typically used lower
(11,630 kJ/kg), the unit’s ton per day capacity would design limits, especially with respect to the grate heat
be reduced below 500 t/d (454 tm/d) so not to exceed the release rate.
maximum heat input limit. On the other hand, if the The stoker width and depth are also related to the
actual refuse heating value is below 5000 Btu/lb (11,630 specific fuel. A high heating value, low moisture fuel
kJ/kg), then the unit could actually process more than would require a wider, less deep stoker because the
500 t/d (454 tm/d) of refuse, up to the maximum ton per fuel will tend to burn more rapidly. A low heating value,
day limit of that stoker. high moisture fuel would require a narrow, deeper
The ton per day limit is usually set by a refuse ca- stoker because more residence time on the stoker is
pacity per unit of stoker width, a limit for optimum fuel usually needed. The combination of all these criteria
feed and distribution, or a structural limit based on will set the maximum ton per day rating of the stoker.
refuse weight per square foot (m2). These limits are in There is also a minimum load that can be effectively
the range of 30 t/d (27 tm/d) per front foot (0.3 m) of handled on a given stoker. This load is also set by both

a ton per day limit (minimum fuel inventory on the Furnace

Waterwalls
grate) and a heat input limit (minimum heat input for
good combustion).
All of these limits can be incorporated into a capacity
Mechanical
diagram, which provides the operator with the bound- Individual Seal
ary limitations around a family of heating value curves. Water-Cooled Assembly
Grate Bars
Fig. 14 is such a diagram for a typical 500 t/d (454 tm/d)
boiler burning 5000 Btu/lb (11,630 kJ/kg) refuse. Fuel
Travel
Stoker design
The combustion of MSW requires a rugged, reliable
stoker to successfully convey and burn unsorted
refuse. Most stokers use some variation of a recipro-
cating grate action, with either forward moving or
reverse acting grate movement. Some arrangement
of moving and stationary grates is used to move the
refuse through the furnace and allow time for com-
plete combustion.
A reciprocating grate stoker is typically designed
with alternating moving and stationary rows of grate Grate Bar
bars in a stairstep construction with a downward slope Hydraulic Actuators
(Typ.)
to help move the refuse along the length of the grate.
Each row of grate bars overlaps the row beneath it
and the alternate rows are supported from a moving Ash
Discharge
frame driven by hydraulic cylinders. The moving rows Individual
of grate bars push the refuse over the stationary bars Air-Cooled
Grate Bars
where it is picked up by the next row of moving bars. Fig. 15 Pivoting refuse grate.
Fig. 15 shows a pivoting grate design where each row
of grate bars is mounted on individual transverse
shafts moving slowly 60 deg forward and backward More recently, MSW heating values have increased
so that the entire grate surface is in constant motion. to levels where water cooling of the grate has become
The reciprocating grate shown in Fig. 16 has longitu- more common for new mass-fired units. Typically, the
dinal grate girder assemblies filled with grate bars. Ev- upper half of the grate, nearest to the fuel feed point
ery other grate girder assembly is resting on a trans- and most intense combustion zone, is water-cooled
verse shaft at the upper end, moving slowly 30 deg while the balance of the grate is air-cooled. The grates
forward and backward so that the grate surface moves in Figs. 15 and 16 can be supplied with either water-
like a walking beam floor. The remaining assemblies or air-cooled versions. Water cooling also has the op-
are stationary. The typical grate drive units are erational advantage that combustion air temperature
equipped with hydraulic cylinders with a piston mov- can be preheated as required for combustion without
ing forward and backward and thereby creating the consideration for grate cooling, which is controlled by
grate movement. The motion of these grates rolls and the water flow.
mixes the refuse, constantly exposing new material to For lower heating value, high moisture refuse, drop-
the high temperatures in the fuel bed and allowing the off steps are often incorporated into the stoker design.
combustion air to contact all of the burning refuse. The steps are located at the end of each grate module
resulting in one to three steps depending on the over-
all stoker length. These steps promote a tumbling and
rolling action as the burning refuse falls off the step.
This type of design was used on a number of the early
refuse units in the U.S. but was found to be unneces-
sary with the higher heating value and lower mois-
ture refuse. In fact, it can be a detriment as the tum-
bling can also result in excursions of high carbon
monoxide (CO) emissions.
The grates are usually constructed in a series of
standard modules with independent drives and air
plenums. This allows the individual grate modules to
be factory-assembled to limit field construction time
and provide complete duplication of parts for easy
maintenance and repair. This modular construction
allows any size stoker to be constructed from a small
number of standard modules. A typical stoker is usu-
ally from two to four modules in length and one to four
Fig. 14 Stoker capacity diagram. modules in width.

Modular construction provides the operator with trol with feed rate adjustments made by either the
complete control over the amount of undergrate air speed of travel or the number of strokes per hour.
introduced through each module. This ability to con-
trol the undergrate air in multiple air zones along the Combustion air system
width and depth of the stoker is an important factor The primary combustion air, or undergrate air, is
in minimizing CO and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emis- fed to the individual air plenums beneath each grate
sions. This method of construction also provides com- module. A control damper at the entrance to each air
plete freedom in the operating speed of the individual plenum controls the undergrate air to each section of
grate modules to provide the required feed rate along the grate (Fig. 17). The grate surface is designed to
the grate for complete burnout of the fuel. meter the primary combustion air to the burning
refuse uniformly over the entire grate area. This is
Fuel handling accomplished by providing small air ports or tuyères
The MSW delivered to the refuse plant is generally in the surface of the individual grate bars. These air
dumped directly into the storage pit. This large pit also ports provide openings equal to approximately 3% of
provides a place to mix the fuel. This mixing is done the grate area which results in sufficient pressure drop
using the crane and grapple to move and restack the of air resistance across the grate to assure good distri-
refuse as it is dumped into the pit. This produces a bution of the air flow through the grate, regardless of
fuel, in both composition and heating value, that is the depth of refuse on the grate. Undergrate air sys-
as consistent as possible for the boilers. This is an es- tems are generally designed for 70% of the total com-
sential job for the crane operator and any time not re- bustion air flow with expected normal operation at
quired to feed the furnaces is used to mix the fuel. It 60% of total air flow.
is not uncommon for the crane operator to mix four Because refuse contains a high percentage of vola-
grapple loads back into the pit for every one load that tiles, a large portion of the total combustion air should
goes to a charging hopper. enter the furnace as secondary, or overfire, air through
ports in the furnace walls. These secondary air ports
Fuel feed system are located only in the front and rear furnace walls
Controlled feed of the fuel is necessary for good com- so that the air flow parallels the normal flow pattern
bustion to minimize CO and NOx emissions and to through the unit. Older design units generally pro-
maintain constant steam output. At the bottom of the vided 25 to 30% of the total air as overfire air. With
charging hopper feed chute, a hydraulic ram pushes today’s emphasis on better combustion and lower
the fuel into the furnace and onto the stoker grates emissions, the overfire air systems are designed for
at a controlled rate. On larger units, multiple charg- 50% of the total air to be overfire air with expected
ing rams are used across the width of the unit to pro- normal operation at 40%.
vide a continuous fuel feed with optimum side to side The basic function of the overfire air system is to
distribution. The hydraulic rams stroke forward provide the quantity of air and the turbulence neces-
slowly and then retract quickly to provide the positive sary to mix the furnace gases with the combustion air
continuous fuel feed. These rams are simple to con- and to provide the oxygen necessary for complete com-
bustion of the volatiles in the lower furnace. Excess
air in the furnace is usually maintained in the range
Longitudinal Grate Girder Assembly
(With Grate Bars Removed)
Transverse
Actuator Fuel
Shaft Travel
E
D
C Ash
Hydraulic
Unit Discharge
B
A Moving Grate Assembly

(B and D)
Stationary Grate Assembly
(A, C and E)
Individual Grate
Grate Blocks Bars With Air Holes
(Fitted To Girder Assembly) (Replaceable)
Fig. 16 Reciprocating refuse grate. Fig. 17 Combustion air system.

of 80 to 100% and complete combustion is generally

indicated by a CO value in the range of 10 to 100 ppm.
The high percentage of excess air needed to ensure
proper combustion can be reduced through flue gas
recirculation. Flue gas recirculation involves the use
of cooled flue gas, generally extracted from the sys-
tem down stream of the baghouse, to offset a certain
portion of the fresh air used in the overfire air sys-
tem. The recirculated flue gas maintains the total flow
volume in the combustion air system while reducing
the percentage of excess O2, which improves boiler
efficiency. Flue gas recirculation also reduces the pro-
duction of NOx by limiting the amount of O2 present in
the high temperature region of the furnace where NOx
is formed. The advantages of using flue gas recircula-
tion can be offset by its disadvantages which include
the capital cost of the system, power consumption of the
recirculation fan, and overall system maintenance.
To aid in the combustion of wet fuels during ex-
tended periods of rainy weather, the air system in-
cludes steam coil air heaters designed to provide air
temperatures in the range of 300 to 350F (149 to
177C) to help dry these fuels and maintain furnace
temperature. These steam coil air heaters are com-
monly used only for the undergrate air because this Fig. 18 Plunger ash extractor.
is the air flow which directly aids in drying wet fuel.
These air heaters must be conservatively designed
with fin spacing not exceeding 4 to 5 fins/in. (1 fin/ and controls dusting. In the plunger ash extractor (Fig.
6.4 to 5.1 mm). Most plants take combustion air from 18), the ash is quenched, a slow moving, hydraulically
the storage pit area to help minimize odors. This air is operated ram cycles forward and back to push and
normally contaminated with dust and lint which could squeeze the accumulated ash up an inclined dewater-
plug the steam coil. Some type of cleaning arrange- ing section to the discharge of the extractor. The ram
ment or filters must therefore be included to keep the cycles continuously at a slow speed to push the ash out
steam coil clean. of the extractor. The dewatered ash has a moisture con-
When high moisture fuels are encountered, the first tent of 15 to 20% as a result of the squeezing process on
action by the operator is to use the steam coil air the incline. The lower moisture content can have an eco-
heater to provide hot air. However, for very high mois- nomic advantage as the cost of landfilling ash is based
ture fuels it may also be necessary to use the auxil- on total weight, which includes the weight of water in
iary fuel burners to stabilize combustion in the fur- the ash. Another option is a wet conveyor ash extractor.
nace. These cases are the exception, and in normal This is a water-filled conveyor trough where noncom-
operation neither the auxiliary burners nor the steam bustible items, ash and grate siftings are transported on
coil air heater are needed for good combustion. a steel apron belt submerged in water. As with the chain
conveyor discussed later in the chapter, the belt carries
Ash handling systems the noncombustibles, ash and siftings up an incline, ef-
When refuse is burned, the ash takes the form of fectively dewatering the material before it is discharged
either light ash, called flyash, or coarse ash, which from the belt to a bin or hopper, and the belt cycles around
comes off the stoker. The flyash is entrained in the gas to the water-filled trough to collect more material.
stream until it is removed in the particulate collection To keep the ash system simple and to minimize
device or falls out into the boiler, economizer, or air costs, ash from the extractor can discharge directly into
heater hoppers. The stoker ash consists of ash from the a truck or bin for final disposal. To move the ash away
fuel, slag deposits on the grate, ash from the furnace from the vicinity of the stoker discharge, vibrating and
walls and, in some designs, ash from the superheater. belt-type conveyors are used. A short vibrating conveyor
The stoker ash is discharged through the stoker dis- is placed at the discharge of the ash extractor; its metal
charge chute and from the stoker siftings hoppers. trough can withstand the impact of the oversized, non-
combustible material falling from the extractor. The vi-
Ash extractor brating conveyor then transfers the ash to a belt con-
The ash from the stoker discharge on mass-fired veyor, minimizing the wear on the belt conveyor that
units may contain large pieces of non-combustible would occur if the extractor discharged directly onto it.
material, in addition to the normal ash from combus-
tion. Ash consistency can vary from fine particles to Scrubber, precipitator, and baghouse flyash
large and heavy non-combustible objects in the fuel. The flyash collected in the scrubber, precipitator, or
The ash from the stoker discharge chute falls into a baghouse hoppers can be handled by dry mechanical
water bath in the ash extractor that quenches the ash screw or chain-type conveyors. These conveyors op-

erate continuously to minimize hopper pluggage prob- the pulverized coal burner elevation through an RDF
lems and they discharge onto a collecting conveyor, burner with a fuel distribution impeller. Most of the
which is usually a dry chain type. Because the me- RDF burns in suspension in the high heat input zone
chanical conveyors are dust-tight, but not designed of the pulverized coal fire while the heavier fuel frac-
to be gas-tight, separate sealing devices such as ro- tion falls out in the lower furnace. A dump grate stoker
tary seals or double flop valves are used. The collect- located in the neck of the ash hopper allows more com-
ing conveyor will collect the flyash discharged by all plete burnout of the heavier fuel particles before they
the conveyors under the rows of hoppers, and move it are discharged into the ash system (Fig. 19). RDF has
to a single collection point for ultimate disposal. been successfully co-fired in B&W boilers at Lakeland,
Florida; Ames, Iowa; and Madison, Wisconsin.
RDF has also been successfully co-fired in B&W
RDF firing Cyclone furnaces where the finely processed and sized
RDF technology was developed in North America RDF is injected into the Cyclone secondary air stream
as an alternative to the mass burning method. Ini- moving tangentially inside of the Cyclone barrel. (See
tially, RDF was used as a supplementary fuel for large, Chapter 15.) This method of RDF combustion has
usually coal-fired, utility boilers. For this application, been used in Baltimore, Maryland.
the RDF is finely processed and sized to 1.5 in. (38.1
mm) maximum size. The resulting RDF is nearly all Dedicated RDF-fired boilers
light plastics and paper. From this supplemental fuel experience, RDF then
For supplemental firing, B&W recommends a maxi- became the main fuel for boilers specifically designed
mum RDF input of 20% on a heat input basis, and no to generate full load steam flow when burning RDF
RDF input until the boiler is operating above 50% load. (Fig. 20). In some cases where steam flow was required
In most cases the RDF is blown into the furnace at even when refuse was not available, the boiler was
Fig. 19 Typical B&W RB-type utility boiler firing RDF as a supplementary fuel.

Fig. 20 Typical RDF refuse-to-energy system.
designed so that it could also reach full load on wood,

coal or natural gas. More commonly there would only
be auxiliary gas or oil burners for startup and shutdown. Steam Drum
The first boilers in the world to fire RDF as a dedi-
cated fuel were B&W units which began operation in
1972 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The first of such
boilers in the U.S. went into operation in 1979 in Ak- Superheater
ron, Ohio. The boiler design was highly influenced by
the proven technology of wood-fired boilers with respect
to their fuel feed system, stoker design, furnace sizing,
and overfire air system. The transfer of this technology
from wood firing to RDF firing was successful in many
areas, but in other areas design adjustments were
needed to accommodate the unique aspects of RDF. Economizer
The operating experience from the first generation From RDF
designs at Hamilton, Akron and other plants led to Storage
Building
second generation designs with improved RDF pro-
Feed
cessing systems, fuel feed systems and boiler design. Bin Start-Up
Specific improvements included the first fuel feeder Burner
Air
designed specifically for RDF and the use of alloy weld Heater
overlay in the lower furnace for corrosion protection.
The third generation of facilities is essentially Ram
today’s state-of-the-art design. (See Fig. 21.) This Lower Hopper
boiler design has an enhanced overfire air system to
significantly improve combustion efficiency. These Conveyor
third generation designs also incorporate dramatically
improved fuel processing systems. Submerged Chain
Ash Conveyors
Forced
RDF processing Draft
Fan
The first generation RDF processing systems were
referred to as crunch and burn systems. The incom- Fig. 21 Third generation RDF unit and fuel feeding system.

ing refuse first went to a hammer mill type shredder erally high in ash and inerts content and, therefore,
that produced an RDF with 6 by 6 in. (152 by 152 mm) the resulting RDF is low in ash content. When an RDF
top size. Ferrous metal was removed by magnetic sepa- processing system is designed to obtain a higher yield,
rators. There was no other material separation and more of the ash is carried over into the RDF fuel frac-
many undesirable components entered the boiler such tion and the ash content is increased.
as shredded particles of glass that became embedded The RDF heating value is inversely related to the
in wood and paper resulting in a very abrasive fuel yield; the lower the yield, the higher the heating
entering the boiler in suspension. Following the prac- value. A sophisticated RDF processing system will
tice of wood-fired boilers, the RDF was generally have multiple stages of material separation that re-
stored in a hopper or bin. RDF, however, is much more move a very large percentage of the metals, inert
compactible than wood and in nearly every case, sig- material, and high moisture organic material. Since
nificant problems were encountered getting the RDF a relatively large portion of the incoming MSW is re-
out of the storage bins. moved by this processing system, the RDF yield is sig-
Second generation RDF processing systems recog- nificantly lower than the yield produced by a less so-
nized and corrected some of the problems. The shred- phisticated crunch and burn system. The resultant
der for final fuel sizing was moved to the back of the RDF, however, will have a high heating value corre-
processing system and a rough sizing shredder was sponding to its low percentage of non-combustible
used as the first piece of equipment in the system. This material (ash) and high-moisture organic material.
reduced, but did not eliminate, the problem of abra- A typical MSW might have a composition compa-
sive particles embedding in the fuel. Size separation rable to the reference waste shown in Table 4. The
equipment was introduced, generally removing the majority of the waste is combustible materials, which
small size fraction which is less than 1.5 in. (38.1 mm) have ash contents ranging from approximately 4% for
composed mostly of broken glass, ceramics and dirt, wood to 12% for glossy magazine paper. The glass frac-
which was sent to landfill. RDF was stored on the floor
rather than in bins or hoppers and was moved by
front-end loaders to conveyor belts. This greatly im- Table 4
proved the reliability of fuel flow to the boiler. Typical Reference Refuse
In third generation RDF processing systems (Fig.
22) the first piece of equipment became a flail mill or Reference
similar equipment whose main function was to break MSW RDF
Component Analysis (% by wt) (% by wt)
open the garbage bags. The refuse is still size-separated
using a trommel disk screen with the minus 1.5 in. (38.1 Corrugated board 5.53 
mm) size destined for landfill. Generally, a device such Newspapers 17.39 
as an air density separator is added to collect the light Magazines 3.49 
fraction (paper, plastics, etc.) from this stream to achieve Other paper 19.72 
maximum heat recovery. Where it is economically attrac- Plastics 7.34 
Rubber, leather 1.97 
tive, separation of aluminum and other non-ferrous
Wood 0.84 
metals is added to the plus 1.5 in. (38.1 mm.) minus 6 Textiles 3.11 
in. (152 mm) stream. Yard waste 1.12 
Food waste 3.76 
RDF yield Mixed combustibles 17.75 
RDF yield is defined as the percentage of RDF pro- Ferrous 5.50 
duced from a given quantity of MSW. For instance, a Aluminum 0.50 
70% yield means that 70 t (63 tm) of RDF are produced Other nonferrous 0.32 
for every 100 t (90 tm) of incoming MSW. The ash con- Glass 11.66 
tent of RDF is directly related to the yield of the pro- Total 100.00
cessing system. In a processing system with a lower Ultimate Analysis
yield, the portion of the MSW that is rejected is gen-
Carbon 26.65 31.00
Hydrogen 3.61 4.17
Sulfur 0.17 0.19
(max. 0.30) (max. 0.36)
Nitrogen 0.46 0.49
Oxygen 19.61 22.72
Chlorine 0.55 0.66
(max. 1.00) (max. 1.20)
Water 25.30 27.14
Ash 23.65 13.63
Total 100.00 100.00
Heating value 4,720 Btu/lb 5,500 Btu/lb
(10,979 kJ/kg) (12,793 kJ/kg)
Fuel value recovery, % MSW 96
Mass yield, % RDF/MSW 83
Fig. 22 Third generation RDF processing system.

tion, yard waste and mixed combustibles may also

contain varying quantities of sand, grit and dirt. The
predicted composition of the RDF will vary depend-
ing on the type of processing system and the result-
ing yield. Table 5 shows how the ash content in the
fuel and the heating value of the fuel will vary as the
RDF yield varies with different processing systems.
Two cases are considered, one which assumes no front
end recycling (curbside recycling or separate recycling
facility), and a second case which assumes that such
a system is in place in the community.
RDF quality
RDF used to supplement pulverized coal in utility
boilers should be very low in ash; contain the least
possible amount of ferrous metal, aluminum, and other
nonferrous metal; and be small enough in particle size
to be fed pneumatically to the boiler. The processing
system for such a fuel would generally be a very low
yield system, between 40 and 60%.
RDF for dedicated traveling grate stoker boilers
should be low in ash; as free as possible of ferrous
metal, aluminum and other nonferrous metals; and
have a particle size distribution that is considerably
larger than the particle size of RDF for use in Cyclone
or pulverized coal boilers. The processing system for
such a fuel will have a higher yield, around 70 to 85%.
RDF produced in a crunch and burn system, in
which solid waste is shredded and only the ferrous
metal removed, has a yield of about 93%; an inher-
ently high ash content; and contains 100% of the alu-
minum, other non-ferrous metals, glass, stones and
ceramics in the original MSW. The large quantities of
aluminum, glass, and other inerts that remain in the
RDF will result in higher wear on the stoker and lower
furnace. The economic advantage of installing a less Fig. 23 Components of a complete RDF processing system.
sophisticated crunch and burn processing system is
generally offset by the need to provide a more conser-
vatively designed stoker and furnace as well as a highest heat recovery, while removing ferrous, alumi-
larger ash handling system. num and other non-ferrous materials, and glass. Such
a system (Fig. 23) includes the following:
RDF processing systems In-feed conveyors From the tipping floor, the solid
An optimum RDF processing system for a dedicated waste is fed by front-end loaders or excavators to steel
boiler application achieves the highest yield with the pan apron conveyors which feed the flail mill in-feed
conveyors.
Initial size reduction The flail mill tears open the
plastic garbage bags, coarsely shreds the refuse, and
also breaks glass bottles to a size of approximately 1.5
Table 5 in. (38.1 mm) or less.
RDF Yield Versus Ash Content and Fuel Heating Value
Ferrous metal recovery Ferrous metal is extracted
Mode RDF Yield % Ash Btu/lb (kJ/kg) from the coarsely shredded MSW in each line by a
single-stage overhead magnet. Recovered ferrous
Without front-end recycling: metal is moved to a ferrous air classifier where tramp
Mass burn 100% 23.64 4814 (11,197) materials such as paper, plastics or textiles are re-
Crunch and burn 93% 19.87 5146 (11,970) moved, thereby providing a clean ferrous product. A
RDF 83 11.72 5641 (13,121) ferrous recovery of 90% is possible.
to 70% to 8.87 to 5834 (13,570) Size classification and final size reduction After fer-
With front-end recycling: rous removal, shredded waste is fed into a rotating
Mass burn 100% 19.58 5513 (12,823)
trommel screen, a size separating device about 10 ft
Crunch and burn 93% 17.16 5898 (13,714) (3.0 m) in diameter by 60 ft (18.3 m) long. The
RDF 85 9.91 6328 (14,719) trommel performs the following functions:
to 71% to 6.59 to 6491 (15,098) 1. removes glass, sand, grit and nonferrous metal
less than 1.5 in. (38.1 mm) in size, and

2. removes the minus 6 in. (152 mm), plus 1.5 in. it is either fed directly to the boiler or fed directly to a
(38.1 mm) fraction and contains the bulk of the shuttle conveyor and storage pile. When RDF feed is
aluminum cans. direct to the boiler, excess RDF from the boiler feed
The trommel oversize material, plus 6 in. (152 mm), system is returned to the RDF storage building. RDF
is then shredded in a horizontal secondary shredder. not being fed directly to the boiler is retrieved from
Because the secondary shredder is a major consumer the storage pile by a front-end loader and loaded onto
of energy and has high hammer maintenance costs, inclined conveyors which transport the RDF to the
the RDF process is specifically designed to reduce the boiler feed system.
secondary shredder’s load by shredding only those Fuel feed system: metering feeders
combustibles too large for the boiler. Particle size is
primarily controlled by the design of the secondary A successful RDF metering feeder must meet the
shredder grate openings. Additional particle size con- following design criteria:
trol may be achieved by adding a disc screen down- 1. controlled fuel metering to meet heat input demand,
stream of the secondary shredder to recycle any over- 2. homogenization of material to produce even density,
sized material back to the secondary shredder. 3. adequate access to deal with oversized material,
Separation of glass, stones, grit and dirt Trommel 4. maintainability, in place, and
undersize material, minus 1.5 in. (38.1 mm), passes 5. fire detection and suppression devices.
over an air density separator (ADS) designed to re-
move dense particles from less dense materials A reliable RDF metering feeder (see Fig. 21) is a key
through vibration and air sweeping. This device can feature of the second generation RDF boiler design.
efficiently remove glass, stones, grit and dirt, as well One feeder is used for each air-swept fuel distributor
as nonferrous metals. The light fraction, which can spout. Each feeder has an upper feed bin which is kept
range from approximately 50 to 90% of the ADS feed, full at all times by an over-running conveyor to en-
consists essentially of combustibles with high fuel sure a continuous fuel supply. The fuel in this hopper
value which are recovered and blended into the main is transferred to a lower hopper by a hydraulic ram.
fuel stream. The ram feed from the upper hopper is controlled by
Aluminum can recovery To optimize aluminum can level control switches in the lower hopper. The RDF is
recovery, an air classifier is provided for the plus 1.5 fluffed into a uniform density by a variable speed in-
in. (38.1 mm), minus 6 in. (152 mm) undersize frac- clined pan conveyor which sets up a churning motion
tion. The air classifier removes the light organic por- in the lower hopper. The pan conveyor delivers a con-
tion of the stream, allowing aluminum cans to be more stant volume of RDF per flight which is carried up the
visible for hand pickers. The air classifier heavy frac- pan conveyor and deposited into the air-swept spout.
tion drops onto a conveyor moving at approximately The rate at which the fuel is deposited into the spout
2.5 ft/s (0.76 m/s) with numerous hand-picking sta- is based on fuel demand.
tions on either side of the belt. Cans go into hoppers Air-swept distributor spouts
and, by conveyor, to a can flattener. A pneumatic con-
veyor then transfers the flattened cans into a trailer. Air-swept fuel spouts, used extensively in the pulp
An eddy current separator, for the removal of alumi- and paper industry, proved to be equally effective for
num cans, can replace hand picking if the expected RDF firing. (See Chapter 28.) Lateral fuel distribu-
amount of cans is high enough to justify the addition on the grate is achieved by locating multiple
tional capital cost. Aluminum recovery of 60% is pos- spouts across the width of the furnace. Longitudinal
sible with hand picking, while up to 90% recovery is distribution is achieved by continuously varying the
possible with the eddy current separator. pressure of the air sweeping the spout floor. A major
Oversized bulky waste (OBW) The OBW shredder is feature of this design is its simplicity.
generally a horizontal hammer mill used to shred fer-
rous metal recovered by the RDF processing lines and Traveling grate stoker
pre-separated oversized material which includes white To date, only traveling grates have been used for
goods such as refrigerators, washing machines, fur- spreader-stoker firing of RDF. These grates move from
niture and tree limbs. The ferrous metal is magneti- the rear of the furnace to the front, into the direction
cally recovered and given a final cleaning by an air of fuel distribution. A single undergrate air plenum is
scrubber to remove tramp materials. The nonferrous used. There is a wealth of experience worldwide with
material is integrated into the RDF stream. traveling grate stokers burning a myriad of waste and
Tire shredding line If there is a sufficient supply of hard to burn fuels. The parameters for unit design
tires, a separate tire shredding line can be included. shown in Table 6 were developed from this experience
A shear shredder, used specifically for shredding tires, and the uniqueness of the RDF. (See also Chapter 16.)
can shred 500 passenger car tires per hour. The shred- On mass-fired stokers, a large volume of fuel at the
der includes a rotary screen classifier (trommel) for front slowly burns down to a small volume of ash at
returning shredded tire chips above 2 in. (51 mm) back the back. For an RDF stoker the key is to maintain
to the shredder. A tire chip 2 by 2 in. (51 by 51 mm) or an even 8 to 10 in. (203 to 254 mm) bed of fuel and
less is the final product which is then blended in with ash over the entire stoker area. Grate problems are
the RDF stream. usually due to a shallow ash bed or localized piling of
RDF storage building RDF from each processing line fuel. Operator tendency, when confronted with poor
is conveyed to an RDF storage building. From there, metering and/or fuel distribution, is to run the grates

major concern for a fluidized-bed boiler. One form

Table 6 of protection against corrosion in a refuse-fired
Stoker Design Criteria (English units)
boiler is the formation of an oxide layer on the
Parameters RDF Wood surface of the tubes. This oxide layer acts as a
barrier against continual contact between the cor-
rosive flue gas and the tube material. The erosive
6 2
Grate heat release, 10 Btu/h ft 0.750 1.100
Input per ft of grate width, 106 Btu/h 15.5 29 action of the bed material in a fluidized-bed boiler
Fuel per in. of distributor width, lb/h 450 1000 will continuously remove this protective oxide
Feeding width as % of grate width 45 to 50 45 to 50
layer as it is being formed, thereby accelerating
Grate speed, ft/h 25 N/A
the corrosion rate.
Fluidized-bed combustion technology is capable of fir-
faster. While this technique can minimize bed upset, it ing RDF. However, the advantages of the technology must
will shorten grate life due to higher wear rates and the be carefully weighed against its disadvantages.
overheating of the grate bars. With the recommended Lower furnace design configuration
ash bed thickness, tramp material is minimized, grate
temperatures are lowered, wear is reduced, and grate The lower furnace designs of early RDF boilers were
life is increased. To achieve this optimum ash bed re- largely based upon technology used for wood-fired
quires controlled metering of the RDF and proper dis- boilers. This included modest overfire air (OFA) sys-
tribution of the fuel to the grates, as previously described. tems with multiple small diameter nozzles designed
A second problem is the accumulation of melted alu- for 25 to 30% of the total air supply, straight wall fur-
minum and lead on the grate. The best solution is to- naces, and carbon reinjection systems. The result was
tal removal of these metals from the fuel stream. If less than desired combustion performance due to in-
this is not practical, experience has shown that main- adequate turbulent mixing in the furnace. Today’s
taining proper ash bed thickness will cause the alu- RDF units are designed with fewer large diameter OFA
minum and lead to solidify in the ash bed rather than nozzles designed for 50% of the total air supply with
on the grate. nominal operation at 40%. This design has proven
itself capable of injecting OFA deep into the combus-
Fluidized-bed combustion tion chamber for improved turbulent mixing of air
Beginning in the 1980s, fluidized-bed combustion with combustibles released from the grate. The Con-
technologies, both bubbling bed and circulating bed, trolled Combustion Zone (CCZ) lower furnace design
had proven themselves to be efficient and cost-effec- with twin arches for wood and biomass firing (see
tive technologies for the combustion of waste fuels Chapters 16 and 30) has also been applied to some
such as biomass, sludge, and waste coals. (See Chap- limited RDF applications.
ters 17 and 30.) In the mid-1990s, there was growing Furnace exit gas temperature
interest in applying these fluidized-bed technologies
to the combustion of RDF based upon higher effi- Gas temperatures leaving the furnaces of first and
ciency, reduced emissions, and lower capital costs. second generation designs were higher than antici-
While a number of waste-to-energy facilities were pated. There were not enough data on RDF firing to
installed that utilized fluidized-bed technology, few of accurately predict the relationship between furnace
these facilities were able to achieve these high expec- surface area and furnace exit gas temperature. Com-
tations due to several unique characteristics of RDF: pounding this problem was a continual increase in the
heating value of the RDF due to changes in the com-
1. The quality and particle size of RDF is more criti- position of the raw refuse and the development of more
cal for fluidized-bed combustion than for stoker efficient processing equipment. To achieve the desired
firing to ensure fluidization of the fuel within the furnace exit gas temperatures, the size of the third
bed and to avoid plugging of the bed drain sys- generation furnace has increased significantly. The
tem. The fuel processing system needed to produce furnace width and depth are set by the size of the
RDF suitable for fluidized bed combustion has a stoker, therefore the furnace height has increased to
higher capital cost plus higher operating and achieve the required furnace exit gas temperatures.
maintenance costs.
2. A coal-fired fluidized-bed power generation facil- Ash handling systems
ity can have a lower capital cost than a pulver- Much of the non-combustible material in the RDF
ized coal facility due to the in-bed capture of sul- system is removed before it is fed to the boiler. Al-
fur dioxide. This eliminates the need for a sepa- though systems vary, there is generally some effort
rate flue gas scrubbing system. The combustion made to remove ferrous metals and aluminum, both
of RDF, however, produces HCl as well as sulfur of which can be troublesome once they reach the
dioxide (SO2) and a fluidized-bed boiler can not stoker grates. Non-combustibles and most of the ash
capture a sufficient amount of the HCl to meet cur- from combustion collect on the traveling grate stoker
rent emissions limits. Therefore, a separate flue and discharge off the front into a submerged chain
gas scrubbing system is required with significant conveyor system.
capital and operation/maintenance costs. The submerged chain conveyor (Fig. 24) is a me-
3. Furnace and superheater tube corrosion is a ma- chanical conveyor that consists of a water-filled trough
jor concern for any refuse-fired boiler; erosion is a and a dry return trough, with two endless chain

flyash from the scrubber, baghouse or precipitator

hoppers are all handled the same way as previously
discussed for mass-fired boilers.
Retrofits to RDF
Most dedicated RDF boilers are new installations.
However, it is possible to retrofit existing boilers to
become dedicated RDF boilers. To be candidates, the
existing boilers must be conservative designs for solid
Fig. 24 Submerged chain conveyor for RDF stoker ash. fuels, such as wood or coal. Typically, these are older
units which are underutilized or used as standby
units. These plants are often located near large met-
strands with flights connected between the strands. ropolitan areas, sources of large quantities of refuse.
The return trough can be either above or below the The conversion of such an older power plant could
water-filled trough. Ash from the stoker discharge represent a cost-effective solution to a community’s
chute drops into the water-filled trough. The water refuse disposal problems.
absorbs the impact of any larger ash pieces, quenches B&W has converted several such boilers from coal-
the ash, and provides a gas-tight seal with the stoker fired to dedicated RDF. Each retrofit is unique in that
discharge chute. each of the coal-fired boilers was of different design
The chains are usually driven by a variable speed and originally supplied by different manufacturers.
drive to handle varying ash rates. The ash residue is Each retrofit was also the same in that all were de-
conveyed from the bottom of a water-filled trough up signed to the same standards as new RDF units.
an incline section where the ash dewaters and dis- The principal modification involves enlarging the
charges directly into a truck, a storage bin, or onto furnace to obtain the proper furnace volume for com-
another type of conveyor for final transport and dis- bustion. Although coal-fired boilers have conserva-
posal. Because this conveyor uses a dragging action tively sized furnaces, refuse firing requires even
to convey the ash, it is not used on mass-fired units larger volumes. This is achieved by removing the ex-
where it can have problems in dragging the large non- isting stoker and lower furnace and installing new
combustible items up the incline section. membrane furnace wall panel extensions (Fig. 25). The
Fine ash from the boiler siftings hopper, flyash from new lower furnace is protected from corrosion using ei-
the boiler, economizer and air heater hoppers, and ther Inconel weld overlay or Inconel bimetallic tubes.
Fig. 25 Coal-fired unit converted to RDF.

Other pressure part modifications could include:

1. converting the superheater to a parallel flow de-
sign while adding the proper metals for corrosion
protection,
2. modifying the boiler, economizer and air heater
surface for the proper heating surface distribution
and to meet refuse standards for velocities, tube
spacing, etc., and
3. possibly adding screen surface to lower the flue gas
temperature entering the superheater.
In some cases, the coal stoker can be reused for RDF
firing; in other cases it must be replaced. In either case
the grate release rate, and other design criteria, must
be set to the same design standards as new refuse
boilers. Properly executed, the retrofit of an existing
boiler to RDF firing will result in an RDF boiler as
conservative as a new RDF boiler and capable of op-
erating equally well.
Fig. 26 Parallel flow superheater (SH).

Boiler components
Superheater B&W refuse boilers were the first to demonstrate
Superheater design is critical in both mass burn and successful commercial operation at the 900 psig (6.2
RDF-fired refuse boilers because of the highly corro- MPa), 830F (443C) steam cycle with the first three
sive nature of the products of combustion. This is com- units going into operation at the Westchester County,
pounded in the U.S. by the desire for the highest pos- New York refuse-to-energy facility in 1984. As of 2004,
sible steam temperature and pressure to maximize there were 21 B&W refuse boilers in operation at these
income from power production sales while still dispos- steam conditions with more than 320 cumulative years
ing of refuse in an environmentally safe manner. B&W of operating experience.
has pioneered both the 900 psig (6.2 MPa) 830F (443C) B&W extended this leadership position in super-
and 1300 psig (8.96 MPa) 930F (499C) high pressure, heater design in 1992 with the development of the first
high temperature steam cycles for refuse boiler applica- refuse boiler design to use the 1300 psig (8.96 MPa)
tion. This noteworthy increase in pressure and tempera- and 930F (499C) steam cycle. This design was based
ture over the more conventional refuse boiler steam con- on laboratory corrosion research and full scale super-
ditions of 600 psig (4.14 MPa) and 700F (371C) has re- heater test sections installed in operating refuse boil-
sulted in a significant improvement in cycle efficiency. ers. In one test, two full scale superheater sections,
To accomplish this improvement, the superheater composed of a variety of tube metallurgies, were in-
must be specifically designed for corrosion protection. stalled in an operating 900 psig (6.2 MPa), 830F
Superheater corrosion is a function of many variables (443C) design refuse boiler with steam flow through
including flue gas temperature, flue gas velocity, tube the sections controlled to simulate 1000F (538C) op-
spacing, tube metal temperature, tube metallurgy, and eration. One section was removed after one year of
ash cleaning equipment. Each of these variables must operation and the second after 26 months. This test
be taken into consideration to avoid rapid superheater provided the basis for tube metallurgy selection for the
corrosion, even if the superheater steam outlet tem- 1300 psig (8.96 MPa), 930F (499C) design. In 1994,
perature is relatively low. For example, specifying only two mass-fired refuse boilers located in Falls Township,
a low furnace exit gas temperature will not assure long Pennsylvania, were placed into operation generating su-
superheater life. perheated steam at 1300 psig (8.96 MPa) 930F (499C).
Of these criteria, tube metal temperature and tube These boilers continue to operate successfully.
material are most critical. To obtain satisfactory refuse In addition to corrosion concerns, the superheater
boiler superheater performance, two key design fea- must be designed to minimize fouling and the potential
tures are needed: for erosion due to excessively high flue gas velocities.
Maximum design velocity is 30 ft/s (9.1 m/s), but in prac-
1. a parallel flow superheater design as shown in Fig. tice it is usually in the 10 to 15 ft/s (3 to 4.6 m/s) range.
26 where the coolest steam conditions are exposed Minimum superheater side spacing is 6 in. (152 mm).
to the hottest gas temperatures and the hottest
steam temperatures are matched with the coolest Boiler design
gas temperatures. The result is a design with the The lower furnace design, refuse stokers and refuse
lowest maximum superheater metal temperatures. feed systems are markedly different for mass-fired and
2. use of Incoloy tube material in the highest tube RDF boilers. However, the design requirements for the
metal temperature sections of the superheater. upper furnace, generating surface and economizer are
Carbon steel is still used in the superheater sec- the same. This is also true for auxiliary equipment
tions with lower superheater metal temperatures. such as burners and ash cleaning equipment.

Upper furnace design The upper furnace must be the potential for low-end temperature corrosion. To
sized to provide adequate heat transfer surface to re- some extent, the surface arrangement in a tubular air
duce the flue gas temperature entering the superheater will maintain adequate protection. Steam coil
heater to an acceptable level. This helps minimize foul- air heaters are required at the air inlet, on either type,
ing in the superheater and maintain low superheater to preheat the incoming ambient air and maintain the
tube metal temperatures to minimize corrosion. A cer- average metal temperature above acid dew points.
tain amount of furnace volume is required for com- (See also Chapter 20.)
plete burnout of the fuel in the furnace and minimum
CO emissions. The required volume should be mea- Ash cleaning equipment
sured from the point where all the combustion air has To maintain the effectiveness of all convective heat-
entered the furnace (the highest level of overfire air ing surfaces and to prevent pluggage of gas passages,
ports) to the point where the flue gas enters the first it is necessary to remove ash and slag deposits from
convective heating surface (at the tip of the furnace external tube surfaces. Steam or air sootblowers are
arch at the bottom of the superheater). Measured in this most commonly used. Saturated steam is preferred for
manner, the required furnace volume per unit of heat its higher density and better cleaning ability. One dis-
input is the same for both mass-fired and RDF boilers. advantage of sootblowing is that localized erosion and
The furnace must also contain sufficient heating corrosion can occur in areas swept too clean by the
surface to lower the flue gas temperature to help re- blowing medium. This problem can be addressed by
duce fouling and corrosion in the superheater and installing tube shields on all tubes adjacent to each
boiler bank. The gas temperature should be limited sootblower for localized protection.
to 1600F (871C) entering the superheater and 1400F A mechanical rapping system (Fig. 27) can be used
(760C) entering the boiler bank. Lower temperature to complement the sootblowers. In this system, a num-
values may be appropriate in certain geographic ar- ber of anvils strike designated pins to impart an ac-
eas where the refuse composition is known to be highly celeration through the superheater tube assembly. The
corrosive. As a general rule, the furnace size is set by purpose is to remove the bulk of the ash while leav-
volumetric requirements in smaller capacity boilers ing a light layer of ash on the tubes for corrosion pro-
and by maximum gas temperature limits in larger tection. Mechanical rapping systems will not eliminate
capacity boilers. the need for sootblowers, but will reduce the number
Boiler generating bank Refuse boilers in operation of sootblower cleaning cycles required.
use both the one-drum and two-drum design. In the
two-drum design there is both a steam drum (upper Auxiliary input burners
drum) and a lower drum, interconnected by the boiler Auxiliary fuel burners are used to maintain furnace
generating bank tubes. temperature during startup, shutdown, and upset
In the one-drum design the steam drum is located conditions to minimize the release of unburned hydro-
outside of the flue gas stream; there is no lower drum. carbons. In most cases, the auxiliary fuel (oil or gas)
The steam generating bank tubes are shop-assembled burners are designed for only 25 to 30% of the boiler’s
modules. These modules may be of either the vertical maximum heat input.
longflow (see Fig. 12) or a vertical crossflow design. When not in service, the typical gas- or oil-fired
Minimum side spacing in the two-drum design and for burner requires some amount of air flow through the
the generating bank modules used with the one-drum idle burner for protection against overheating. Be-
design is 5 in. (127 mm). Maximum design flue gas cause this air leakage represents an efficiency loss,
velocity is set at 30 ft/s (9.1 m/s).
Economizer The economizers can be either verti-
cal longflow or horizontal crossflow. Economizer side
spacing should be no less than 4 in. (102 mm) with a
maximum flue gas velocity of 45 ft/s (13.7 m/s).
Air heater
Air heaters may be used for two reasons: 1) to sup-
ply preheated air to help dry and ignite the refuse on
the stoker, and/or 2) to increase thermal efficiency
where high feedwater temperatures preclude design-
ing to lower exit gas temperatures with economizers.
RDF-fired units have typically used air heaters to
preheat the combustion air to the 300 to 350F (149 to
177C) range. Both tubular and regenerative air heat-
ers have been used successfully. Due to air leakage
into the air heater and the potential for fouling, re-
generative types have been limited to the outlet side
of hot electrostatic precipitators where the flue gases
are relatively clean.
When either tubular or regenerative air heaters are
used, the design and arrangement should minimize Fig. 27 B&W mechanical rapping system for cleaning superheaters.

and because these burners are used infrequently, a maintenance. Either retractable or light weight alu-
special design auxiliary input burner (AIB) is used for minum support beams are inserted into the furnace
refuse boilers. The AIB is designed with a retractable from access doors in the front wall to the superheater
burner element which is inserted toward the furnace arch, where the beams are locked in place. Corrugated
when in use, and retracted when out of service. There decking material is then inserted into the furnace
is also a movable ceramic shutoff damper which pro- through special side wall access doors, and arranged
vides protection against furnace radiation and debris on top of the support beams. This system provides both
when the burner is out of service. When the burner a platform for working in the superheater and upper
is put into service, this ceramic damper is retracted to furnace and some overhead protection to those work-
one side and the burner element is inserted through ing in the lower furnace.
an opening in the damper (Fig. 28).
Upper furnace maintenance platforms Air pollution control equipment
Because refuse is a high fouling fuel, it is necessary Various boiler fuels have specific components
to have good access to the convection sections. Main- unique to that fuel. Some of these components, such
tenance platforms (Fig. 29) are often used to allow as sulfur, create specific air pollution emissions that
access to the superheater area for inspection and require unique boiler designs or specific air pollution
control equipment. These fuels, such as high sulfur
coal, are homogenous. This means the fuel will be the
same in the future as it is today, and will be the same
from one day to the next.
Refuse is a nonhomogenous fuel. It not only changes
over the long term, but can change from day to day.
Nearly every component of a fuel that can result in
an unwanted air pollutant is present in refuse. How-
ever, in the early 1980s when the number of refuse-
fired boilers began to rapidly grow in the U.S., the only
emissions requirements were on particulates, NOx and
SOx. Refuse boilers, due to their relatively cool burn-
ing systems and the generally low level of fuel bound
nitrogen, are low NOx generators. There are also very
low levels of sulfur in refuse. Therefore, early boilers
were generally equipped only with an electrostatic pre-
cipitator (ESP) for particulate control. As more boilers
went into operation and further air emissions data were
obtained, additional emissions requirements were ap-
plied. Initially, hydrochlorides were targeted for con-
trol. Soon the various state air pollution agencies set
regulations for the control of dioxins and furans as well
as a long list of heavy metals.
Dry systems
Dry scrubbers, used for years to control SO2 emis-
sions from coal-fired units, were found to be equally ef-
fective in controlling HCl emissions from refuse units.
With the initial use of dry scrubbers, there was a
split in the preferred particulate collection system be-
tween the ESP and baghouse. ESPs were used in
earlier applications due to their more extensive his-
tory of proven performance. However, it has been
fairly well documented that the layer of ash and lime
that collects on the bags themselves improves sorbent
utilization and increases the removal of SO2 and HCl
in a baghouse. This allows better capture of pollutants
for the same lime slurry rates, or the same level of
pollutant capture at slightly reduced lime slurry rates.
Dry scrubbers and baghouses were also found to be very
effective in controlling dioxin, furan and heavy metal
emissions. Today, the preferred system for nearly all
refuse boilers in North America is the dry scrubber/
baghouse combination. (See Chapters 33 and 35.)
To enhance the capture of mercury contained in the
Fig. 28 Auxiliary input burner (out-of-service and in-service positions). flue gas, refuse-fired boilers are typically equipped

The SCR systems have been demonstrated to achieve

up to 90% NOx reduction on fossil fuel boilers. How-
ever, the catalyst itself is fairly easily poisoned, and
therefore rendered less effective, by a multitude of
substances, all of which are found in refuse to vari-
ous degrees. At this time it is not clear what the long-
term life of the SCR catalyst would be on a refuse-fired
boiler. (See Chapters 33 through 35.)
During this same time period, the emission require-
ments for CO have also been driven to lower levels.
These requirements have been met by a combination of:
1. better overfire air system,
2. more control of undergrate air (more compart-
ments with individual air control),
3. better combustion control systems,
4. larger furnace volumes, and
5. operator training.
Fig. 29 Upper furnace maintenance platform. Wet systems

Wet emissions control systems are also used. A typical
with an activated carbon injection system that works wet gas cleaning system is designed for the removal
in conjunction with a dry scrubber and baghouse. The of HCl, SO2, hydrogen fluoride, mercury, dioxins and
process involves the injection of powdered activated solid particle pollutants from MSW-fired systems. A
carbon into the flue gas upstream of the dry scrub- sample process used in Europe includes six major
ber. As the activated carbon mixes with the flue gas, steps:
it captures the mercury through adsorption. The ac-
1. an ESP collecting most of the particles,
tivated carbon is then collected in the baghouse and
2. a heat exchanger that cools the gas to recover en-
removed along with the flyash.
ergy before the first scrubber,
NOx and CO control 3. a first spray scrubber to quench the gas further
to saturated conditions and remove HCl and mer-
The permissible level of NOx emissions has also been
cury,
significantly reduced since the late 1980s. The lower
4. a second spray scrubber to remove SO2,
NOx limits can generally be achieved by installing an
5. a third spray scrubber to allow removal of the di-
in-furnace ammonia or urea injection system. The
oxins, and
ammonia injected into the furnace reacts with the NOx
6. final filtering modules to remove excess dust par-
contained in the flue gas to produce nitrogen and
ticles coming from the ESP and other scrubbers.
water. This form of NOx control technology is known
as selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) and can An optional condensing heat exchanger can be
reduce the flue gas NOx concentration by as much as used for additional heat removal if a hot water heat-
60%. In certain geographical nonattainment areas for ing system is associated with the plant. Water treat-
NOx emissions, selective catalytic reduction (SCR) sys- ment units process the liquid bleeds and overflows to
tems may be required for even greater NOx control. yield a cake containing the solids for disposal.
Inconel is a trademark of the Special Metals Corporation group of

companies.

This facility features three 750 ton per day mass-fired units by B&W.

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The Babcock & Wilcox Company

Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations 29-1

Carbon 16.88 19.69 22.50 25.32 28.13 30.94 33.76

Increasing heating value per ton of refuse

29-2 Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations

1. corrosion by hydrochlorides (HCl) in the combus- Refuse

The rate of tube metal loss due to corrosion is tem-

Fig. 4 RDF burning schematic.

Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations 29-3

con carbide refractory placed over the pin studs must

29-4 Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations

Fig. 7 Corrosion protection and design of a 26 t/h mass-fired unit.

RDF-fired units Inconel material as a solution to this lower furnace

Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations 29-5

The net result of these characteristics of the mar-

29-6 Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations

Fig. 10 Typical U.S. mass burning refuse-to-energy system.

Steam Secondary Primary Electrostatic Stack

Fig. 11 B&W European mass burning power plant.

Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations 29-7

Boiler plant sizing

29-8 Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations

Steam Boiler Tertiary

Secondary Primary Economizer

Auxiliary Third Additional

Fig. 13 Typical European mass burning unit.

Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations 29-9

a ton per day limit (minimum fuel inventory on the Furnace

29-10 Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations

A Moving Grate Assembly

Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations 29-11

of 80 to 100% and complete combustion is generally

29-12 Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations

Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations 29-13

Fig. 20 Typical RDF refuse-to-energy system.

designed so that it could also reach full load on wood,

29-14 Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations

Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations 29-15

tion, yard waste and mixed combustibles may also

29-16 Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations

Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations 29-17

major concern for a fluidized-bed boiler. One form

29-18 Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations

flyash from the scrubber, baghouse or precipitator

Fig. 25 Coal-fired unit converted to RDF.

Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations 29-19

Other pressure part modifications could include:

Fig. 26 Parallel flow superheater (SH).

29-20 Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations

Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations 29-21

29-22 Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations

The SCR systems have been demonstrated to achieve

Fig. 29 Upper furnace maintenance platform. Wet systems

Inconel is a trademark of the Special Metals Corporation group of

Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations 29-23

29-24 Steam 41 / Waste-to-Energy Installations

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