Abstract:
sciency of mechanically extracting valuable resources from
municipal solid waste (MSW). With today's techniques, resources
such as combustibles, aluminum, glass, and ferrous
materials can be extracted from ordinary refuse, processed,
and returned to society for further use.
This thesis examines one aspect of resource recovery
engineering, namely the separation of MSW combustibles from
noncombustibles by air classification. The combustible
or organic fraction of MSW is valuable to society because it
can be processed into refuse derived fuel (RDF) which
power companies can mix with coal and burn in their combustion
chanbers to create the steam that operates electric
generators. Recovered combustibles are of greatest value
when they are of high "purity" or rather are free from the
contamination of noncombustibles, have a high energy value
per unit mass, and require minimal processing. Problems
caused by contaminants in RDF include glass slagging on
the combustion chamber grates, increased residue left after
burning, and a lowering of the RDF energy value.
