Numerical study of radiation effect on the municipal solid waste combustion characteristics inside an incinerator

• A 3-D model for the MSW incinerator with preheated air was developed.
• Gas radiative properties were obtained from a statistical narrow-band model.
• Non-gray body radiation model can provide more accurate simulation results.

Due to its advantages of high degree volume reduction, relatively stable residue, and energy reclamation, incineration becomes one of the best choices for Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) disposal. However, detailed measurements of temperature and gas species inside a furnace are difficulty by conventional experimental techniques. Therefore, numerical simulation of MSW incineration in the packed bed and gas flow field was applied. In this work, a three dimensional (3-D) model of incinerator system, including flow, heat transfer, detailed chemical mechanisms, and non-gray gas models, was developed. Radiation from the furnace wall and the flame formed above the bed is of importance for drying and igniting the waste. The preheated air with high temperature is used for the MSW combustion. Under the conditions of high temperature and high pressure, MSW combustion produces a variety of radiating gases. The wavelength-depend radiative properties of flame adopted in non-gray radiation model were obtained from a statistical narrow-band model. The influence of radiative heat transfer on temperature, flow field is researched by adiabatic model (without considering radiation), gray radiation model, and non-gray radiation model. The simulation results show that taking into account the non-gray radiation is essential.