Systems and methods for producing engineered fuel feed stocks from waste material
View Patent ↗Systems and methods for producing engineered fuels from solid waste material are described herein. In some embodiments, a method includes receiving a waste stream at a multi-material processing platform and separating the waste stream to remove non-processable waste and marketable recyclables. The method further includes conveying processable materials to a material classification system and incorporating additives to produce an engineered fuel from the constituents of the waste stream.
1. A method of producing an engineered fuel feed stock from a processed MSW waste stream, the method comprising:
processing a municipal solid waste stream to remove non-combustible waste;
selecting components of the processed waste stream based on at least one of the bulk density of the component and the chemical composition of the component, the components of the processed waste stream including hard plastic, soft plastic, and fiber;
combining a quantity of a first selected component with a quantity of a sorbent to form a sorbent-containing intermediate material; and
combining a quantity of a second selected component with the intermediate material to form an engineered fuel feed stock.
2. The method of 1 , wherein the processing of the municipal solid waste stream includes shredding at least a portion of the waste stream to an average size of less than about 1 inch.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first selected component includes at least one of hard plastic, soft plastic and mixed plastic.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first selected component consists essentially of hard plastic.
5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first selected component consists essentially of mixed plastic.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second selected component includes at least one of soft plastic and fiber.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the second selected component consists essentially of fiber.
8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the second selected component consists essentially of soft plastic and fiber.
9. A method of producing an engineered fuel feed stock from a processed MSW waste stream, the method comprising:
processing a municipal solid waste stream to remove non-combustible waste;
sorting the processed waste stream based on at least one of the bulk density of its waste constituents and the chemical composition of its waste constituents, the sorted processed waste stream including waste constituents of a first type and waste constituents of a second type;
combining waste constituents of the first type with an additive to form an intermediate material; and
combining the intermediate material with waste constituents of the second type to form an engineered fuel feed stock.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the waste constituents of the first type include at least one of hard plastic, soft plastic, and mixed plastic.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the plastic content of the intermediate material is between about 10 wt. % and about 50 wt. %.
12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the plastic content of the engineered fuel feed stock is between about 10 wt. % and about 40 wt. %.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the plastic content of the engineered fuel feed stock is between about 10 wt. % and about 20 wt. %.
14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the waste constituents of the second type include at least one of soft plastic and fiber.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the fiber content of the engineered fuel feed stock is between about 30 wt. % and about 80 wt. %.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the fiber content of the engineered fuel feed stock is between about 40 wt. % and about 60 wt. %.
17. The method of claim 9 , wherein the additive is a chemical additive.
18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the chemical additive is a sorbent.
19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the sorbent content of the intermediate material is between about 50 wt. % and about 90 wt. %.
20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the sorbent content of the engineered fuel feed stock is between about 5 wt. % and about 50 wt. %.
21. The method of claim 20 , wherein the sorbent content of the engineered fuel feed stock is between about 20 wt. % and about 40 wt. %.
22. The method of claim 9 , wherein the additive is at least one of sodium sesquicarbonate (Trona), sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, zinc ferrite, zinc copper ferrite, zinc titanate, copper ferrite aluminate, copper aluminate, copper managanese oxide, nickel supported on alumina, zinc oxide, iron oxide, copper, copper (I) oxide, copper (II) oxide, limestone, lime, Fe, FeO, Fe 2 O 3 , Fe 3 O 4 , iron filings, CaCO 3 , Ca(OH) 2 , CaCO 3 .MgO, silica, alumina, china clay, kaolinite, bauxite, emathlite, attapulgite, coal ash, egg shells, organic salts, calcium magnesium acetate (CMA), calcium acetate (CA), calcium formate (CF), calcium benzoate (CB), calcium propionate (CP) magnesium acetate (MA), urea, calcium bromide, sodium bromide, ammonium bromide, hydrogen bromide, ammonium sulfate, Lignosulfonate and Ca-montmorillonite.
23. A method of producing an engineered fuel feed stock, the method comprising:
processing a municipal solid waste stream to remove non-combustible waste;
sorting the processed waste stream based on at least one of the bulk density of its waste constituents and the chemical composition of its waste constituents, the sorted waste stream including waste constituents of a first type and waste constituents of a second type;
combining waste constituents of the first type with an additive to form an intermediate material; and
combining the intermediate material with waste constituents of the second type to form an engineered fuel feed stock,
wherein the additive is formulated to reduce emissions of least one of sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), sulfur trioxide (SO 3 ), nitrogen oxides (NO x ), hydrochloric acid (HC1), mercury (Hg) and non-Hg metals during combustion of the engineered fuel feed stock.
24. The method of claim 23 , wherein the additive is at least one of sodium sesquicarbonate (Trona), sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, zinc ferrite, zinc copper ferrite, zinc titanate, copper ferrite aluminate, copper aluminate, copper managanese oxide, nickel supported on alumina, zinc oxide, iron oxide, copper, copper (I) oxide, copper (II) oxide, limestone, lime, Fe, FeO, Fe 2 O 3 , Fe 3 O 4 , iron filings, CaCO 3 , Ca(OH) 2 , CaCO 3 .MgO, silica, alumina, china clay, kaolinite, bauxite, emathlite, attapulgite, coal ash, egg shells, organic salts, calcium magnesium acetate (CMA), calcium acetate (CA), calcium formate (CF), calcium benzoate (CB), calcium propionate (CP) magnesium acetate (MA), urea, calcium bromide, sodium bromide, ammonium bromide, hydrogen bromide, ammonium sulfate, Lignosulfonate and Ca-montmorillonite.
25. The method of claim 23 , wherein the additive is formulated to reduce sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) and sulfur trioxide (SO 3 ) emissions during combustion of the engineered fuel feed stock.
26. The method of claim 25 , wherein the additive is selected from sodium sesquicarbonate (Trona), sodium bicarbonate, sodium carbonate, CaCO 3 , Ca(OH) 2 and calcium magnesium acetate (CMA).
27. The method of claim 23 , wherein the additive is a first additive formulated to reduce sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ) and sulfur trioxide (SO 3 ) emissions during the combustion of the engineered fuel feed stock, the method further comprising:
incorporating a second additive into the waste constituents of the first type and second type prior to forming the engineered fuel feed stock, the second additive formulated to reduce nitrogen oxides (NO x ) emissions during combustion of the engineered fuel feed stock.
28. The method of claim 27 , wherein the second additive is selected from urea.
29. The method of claim 23 , further comprising:
incorporating a third additive into the waste constituents of the first and second type prior to forming the engineered fuel feed stock, the third additive formulated to reduce mercury emissions during combustion of the engineered fuel feed stock.
30. The method of claim 29 , wherein the third additive is selected from calcium bromide, ammonium bromide and sodium bromide.