A modeling study for the gasification of refuse-derived fuel as an alternative to waste disposal

Energy sources all around the world are degrading at a rapid pace. The exponential rise in population, along with urbanization, requires exploration and advancement in diverse fuel resources. Municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal requires urgent intervention in terms of its utilization and conversion into useful energy forms than being dumped into landfills. Though efforts are being made for its combustion in furnaces, the plastic contents in RDF often pose environmental concerns when used for combustion. The gasification process has been explored for the effective processing of different forms of waste in the present study. The composition of MSW varies widely with demography, weather, and habitats. In the present study, MSW of Surat metropolitan city of India is processed post collection, through sorting, segregation, and compaction, and transformed to fuel, which is termed as refuse-derived fuel (RDF). A chemical representation of the RDF is used to perform gasification studies with the help of two thermodynamic equilibrium models. Parametric analysis of the gasification models is performed to analyze the effect of equivalence ratio and gasification reaction temperatures on the product gas composition for the prepared composition of RDF. Results reveal that the combined equilibrium model is more accurate in predicting product gas composition compared to the Homogeneous model. It is observed that the variation of the equivalence ratio has a more significant influence on the product gas composition than the variation in the gasification temperature. The study concludes that RDF from MSW may be efficiently transformed into useful gaseous fuel through gasification resulting in product gas with a calorific value of approximately 25 MJ per kg of RDF gasified.