Flexibility of mechanical biological treatment plants

Abstract

Subject rewiewMechanical Biological Treatment (MBT) of waste represents a series of mechanical and biological processes which have the purpose to reduce the amount of waste that is placed on a landfill. In accordance to the 'hierarchy of waste' defined by the EU Waste Framework Directive, waste disposal to landfill represents the least desirable option.Considering the MBT process, the input component is a Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and output components consist of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF), compost and possibly the materials suitable for recycling.The quality of output components depends on the input waste composition.More efficient primary waste separation decreases capacity and complexity of MBT facilities.RDF offers possibility of energy recovery from the part of such separated fractions.MBT technology does not solve the problem of harmful substances residual in MSW narrowing the application of compost obtained by the biological treatment and requiring additional treatment of flue gases from RDF combustion. Comparison of the composition of untreated MSW and RDF obtained by the MBT process is also presented in the paper. Keywords: compost; MBT; RDF/SRF; waste hierarchy Fleksibilnost MBO postrojenjaPregledni članak Mehaničko biološka obrada otpada (MBO) predstavlja niz mehaničkih i bioloških postupaka koji imaju za svrhu smanjiti količinu otpada koji se odlaže na odlagalište što prema "hijerarhiji otpada" definiranoj Direktivom o otpadu (Waste Framework Directive) Europske Unije predstavlja najmanje poželjnu opciju zbrinjavanja otpada. Ulazna komponenta u MBO proces je kruti komunalni otpad (MSW), a izlazne komponente čine RDF gorivo, kompost i eventualno materijali pogodni za recikliranje. Kvaliteta izlaznih komponenti ovisi o ulaznom sastavu otpada. Učinkovito primarno razdvajanje otpada smanjuje potrebu za MBO kapacitetima. RDF nudi mogućnost energetske oporabe dijela izdvojenih frakcija. MBO tehnologije ne rješavaju problem štetnih tvari zaostalih u MSW, koje sužavaju primjenu komposta dobivenog biološkom obradom, a kod spaljivanja RDF-a zahtijevaju dodatne postupke obrade dimnih plinova. U radu je dana usporedba sastava neobrađenog MSW-a i RDF-a dobivenog odabranim MBO postupkom.