A New test for the evaluation of air classifier performance

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.