08-Biostabilization-biodrying-of-municipal-solid-waste-by-inverting-air-flow

Biostabilization–biodryingofmunicipalsolidwastebyinvertingair-flowMaraSugnia,EnricoCalcaterrab,FabrizioAdania,*aDipartimentodiProduzioneVegetale,sez.FCA,ViaCeloria2,20133Milano,ItalybEcodecoS.p.a.,Loc.CassinazzadiBaselica,27010Giussago,ItalyReceived1August2002;receivedinrevisedform22November2004;accepted22November2004Availableonline20January2005AbstractTheprocessofbiodryingcouldbeagoodsolutionformunicipalsolidwastemanagement,allowingtheproductionoffuelwithaninterestingenergycontent.Previouswork(Adani,F.,Baido,D.,Calcaterra,E.,Genevini,P.L.,2002.Theinfluenceofbiomasstem-peratureonbiostabilization–biodryingofmunicipalsolidwaste.BioresourceTechnology83(3),173–179)hasindicatedthatappro-priatemanagementoftheprocessingparameters(air-flowrateandbiomasstemperatures)couldachievebiomassdryinginveryshorttimes(8–9days).However,thedataofthatworkalsoevidencedthatiftheconditionsdonotconsiderpileturning,andtheair-flowisalwaysfromonedirection,temperaturegradientsarisewithinthebiomass,resultinginalackofhomogeneityinthemoistureandenergycontentofthefinalproduct.Therefore,anewlaboratorystudywasconductedonmunicipalsolidwastebiodrying–biostabilizationinanefforttoobtainhomogeneousfinalproducts.Ourproposaltosolvethislackofhomogeneityistoperiodicallyinverttheair-flowdirection.Thus,inlinewithapreviousstudy,twotrials,AandB,werecarriedout,dividingthebiomassintothreelayerstostudytemperatureandmoisturegradientsthroughouttheprocess,andathirdtrial(C)simulatingair-flowinversionatregularintervalswasintroduced.Theresultssuggestthatthedailyinversionofair-floweliminatesmarkedtem-peraturedifferencesandleadstoahomogeneousfinalproduct.�2005ElsevierLtd.Allrightsreserved.Keywords:Calorificpower;Biodrying;Municipalsolidwaste;Refuse-derivedfuel;Invertedair-flow1.IntroductionInanefforttosolveproblemsconnectedwithwastemanagement,andinlinewithnewEuropeanlegislation(91/156/EEC;91/689/EEC;94/62/EU)(Adanietal.,2002),innovativetechnologiesforwastetreatmentsuchascomposting,biostabilizationandbiodryinghavebe-comeofgene