Relative environmental footprint of waste-based fuel burned in a power boiler in the context of end-of-waste criteria assigned to the fuel

Legal regulations on waste disposal require waste producers to limit landfilling and to find different ways of waste management, the preferred methods being recycling of material and energy potential. Currently, in Poland, the only consumers of RDF (refuse-derived fuels) are cement plants. However, the estimated potential supply of this alternative fuel far outstrips their ability to use it. One solution would be to redirect the excess fuel to power and heat production facilities. The end-of-waste criteria for a given substance or object are specified in European Unions regulations. In this study chemical compounds have been selected for their suspected impact on end-of-waste criteria and their concentrations are measured in conventional coal fuel and the proposed waste-based fuel. A question arises as to whether it is possible to create a waste-based fuel without an assigned waste status. Environmental footprint analysis was carried out using methodology based on the CML 2001 model and involved comparison of two fuels in six different categories.