CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROPERTIES OF ALTERNATIVE FUEL CREATED FROM MUNICIPAL WASTE

Abstract

The article presents the rationale, method of manufacturing and obtaining composite biofuel in the form of pellets based on municipal waste, as well as methods used to determine its main thermal characteristics. Traditional methods of utilizing sewage sludge, which remains for years in sludge landfills, and fallen leaves are inefficient from an economic and environmental point of view or are prohibited. Given the strict environmental standards and high costs of waste processing in Ukraine, their disposal becomes a critical problem due to mass production and large volumes. Utilization of sludge sediments of municipal wastewater treatment plants with their use as a source of thermal energy is one of the promising areas. Adding fallen leaves to the sediments will allow the production of environmentally safe composite biofuels with improved physical and thermal characteristics. The production of granular fuel was carried out using sewage sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plants of the Dnipro-Kirovograd Industrial Complex and fallen maple leaves of the city of Kropyvnytskyi. The main thermal characteristics of composite pellets were experimentally established, namely: density, strength, moisture and ash content. A mixture of sewage sludge and fallen leaves in proportions from 10/90% to 50/50%, respectively, allows obtaining sufficiently high-calorie pellets with a heat of combustion of 18.0 MJ/kg. The resulting composite pellets are environmentally friendly fuel, are low-cost and have sufficiently high thermal characteristics. The use of such alternative biofuels is appropriate for use not only in residential heating systems, but also in industrial plants for the production of thermal and electrical energy in the agro-industrial, municipal and energy sectors.