Refuse Derived Fuel

One way in which waste can be recovered is by using it as fuel and this is achieved by recovering its energy. RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) is a term that applies to materials with a high calorific value (i.e. materials that are able to release a high percentage of calories when burned) that are removed from waste streams and used as fuel. This process can benefit for example cement factories and power stations.

TITECH technology is currently being applied in many plants across Europe to produce an RDF material from different waste streams according to the specific needs of the end users. The main concern in this area of work is to ensure that the RDF has very low chlorine content, typically below 0.5% in weight. TITECH is able to achieve this by either selecting the ‘good’ material from the waste stream (‘positive sorting’) or by ejecting the ‘bad’ material from the stream, such as small PVC parts (‘negative sorting’).

Reference plant – Neuss, Germany

Neuss was the first plant in Germany to sort out RDF with constant chlorine content of less than 0.5% from a household waste input. After being sorted by TITECH units, the RDF material is used as an alternative fuel at cement kilns and paper mills.