Advanced Computational Methods In Component-Oriented Modelling Of Municipal Solid Waste Incineration Processes

Poland was collected 9.6 million tonnes of municipal waste in 2012 (plus update). The primary method of dealing with municipal waste collected was organized depositing them in landfills. Mixed municipal waste accounted for almost 90% of all municipal waste collected (8.6 million tonnes). Poland is one of the lowest in the EU in terms of the use energy from waste.

The analysis of complex real-time physical processes, thermal waste processing and determination of their optimal parameters requires a series of studies and detailed analysis of constituents of elementary processes (degassing, gasification, combustion). The apparent simplicity of process implementation often determines knowledge and practical experience required in their application. The relationships known and used in the design usually concern a homogeneous substance (conventional fuels) and do not correspond to the conditions and needs of processing of complex substances of a different chemical composition and physic-chemical properties. Due to the complexity of the real process, numerical calculations were carried out to simulate the operation of a waste incineration technology. For this purpose a mathematical model was developed as well as its implementation in the programming code of a high-level language. In order to calibrate and validate the model (compliance with the real process) calculations were performed on a specially prepared set of validation data. The authors analysed a group of processes that belong to one technology, looking into connections between degassing, gasification and combustion of carbonized substances in pure oxygen.