Chemical Analysis of DG Cement's Municipal Waste Used for Refuse Derived Fuel

Purpose: Rampant population growth particularly in South Asian region has turned solid waste management a challenging task. Huge resources are squandered for collection and disposal without considering the recyclable and energy potential. However, in Pakistan, some companies are utilizing waste as refuse derived fuel (RDF) - a process to separate combustibles from municipal waste in order to generate energy. Methodology: For RDF analysis, DG cement RDF plant near Lakhodair landfill site Lahore was selected in order to collect RDF raw waste, which are then converted in to RDF pellets for further analysis. The chemical analysis consisted of proximate analysis (moisture content, volatile combustion matter, fixed carbon & ash content) and net calorific value (NCV) along with heavy metal analysis. Findings: Upon analysis, percentage of volatile combustible matter (VCM) tetra pack and jute was about 84% followed by other waste and thermo-pole 78%. Fixed carbon (FC) of wrappers and paper waste was about 24 and 16% whereas Ash content (AC) was recorded highest in textile, shoppers, thermos-pole and foam with 14% while rest 10%. The moisture content (MC) of other waste type followed by shopping bags and jute was found highest among other component such as 3.5%, 24% and 20.9% respectively. Moreover, the highest calorific value was obtained in plastic wrappers (61.26 MJ/kg) whereas lowest was observed in jute (6.4 MJ/kg). For heavy metal analysis such as Chromium (Cr), Lead (Pb), Cadmium (Cd) and Copper (Cu), Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS) was used; highest concentration of copper was observed in the foam waste (45.5 mg/kg) and the lowest value was observed in thermos-pole (8.5 mg/kg). All the results were in EURITS standards range. Recommendation: Therefore, in the light of above analysis, it was confirmed that collected waste is highly feasible for RDF in DG cements.