Determination of the biogenic and fossil organic matter content of refuse-derived fuels based on elementary analyses

A method to determine the mass, energy and carbon content of biogenic and fossil matter in refuse-derived fuel (RDF) is described. The method combines standard chemical information about biogenic and fossil material with data from a chemical analysis of the RDF. The data are used to solve a set of equations that deliver the mathematically and statistically derived final result. For the chemical analysis representative samples of the RDF were assessed in a CHNSO elemental analyser. The proposed method was validated by characterizing defined reference mixtures of plastics and biomass (e.g., polyethylene and cardboard). The correlation coefficient (r2) between the measured and reference values was greater than 0.99. If representative sampling of RDF is assumed, the new method represents a reliable, quick and complementary method for characterizing RDF.