Study points to energy potential of MRF residue

By Henry Leineweber, Resource Recycling

The American Chemistry Council and the University of Texas at Austin have released a new study on the potential benefits of generating energy from non-recyclable waste, including plastics.

Specifically, the study focused on non-recycled plastics and fiber collected from single-stream materials recovery facilities (MRF) and industrial sites which were subsequently processed into what the report calls energy-dense "solid recovered fuel" (SRF). When using SRF to partially fuel a cement kiln, it resulted in 50 percent fewer sulfur dioxide emissions from the kiln, compared to a kiln using only coal as fuel. Additionally, carbon dioxide emissions were reduced by approximately 1.5 percent using SRF and, broadly, replacing coal with SRF at the rates used in the study would result in a fossil fuel reduction of between 5.5 and 6.3 percent over a year.

However the study also concluded that the economic viability of producing SRF depended on local landfill-tipping rates, but a full economic analysis was beyond the scope of the report.

The findings, in their entirety, can be viewed here.

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