Role of refuse derived fuel in the Romanian industrial sector after the entrance in EU

On the 1st of January 2007 Romania became one of the European Union members. For this reason in the next years Romania will have to comply with all the EU directives in the field of the management of the environment. Presently in Romania Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) is generally landfilled without pre-treatment and without energy valorization. The entrance in the EU has given an important push to the industrial sectors, increasing the need of fuels. For this reason an important option regards the use of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) as industrial fuel. It must be pointed out that a lot of industrial authorizations have been recently given for plants using fuel oil for energy generation as methane cannot reach yet many industrial districts. RDF could be obtained in Romania using the bio-drying process with post-separation of inert fractions as the percentage of organic fraction in MSW is significant. Presently in Romania bio-drying plants for MSW are under discussion but not yet implemented. The present paper will deal with local and global environmental balances related to a partial substitution of fuel oil with RDF for industrial uses in Romania. Balances are also based on the assessment of the Romanian RDF characteristics, taking into account the result from a recent PhD research. The research was developed using the MSW composition from Bucharest, where many industrial districts are under construction around the city. The scenarios that will be presented regard the use of RDF obtained taking into account also the future development of the Romanian MSW composition and the implementation of selective collection. The scenarios concern both the use of RDF in co-combustion as a partial substitute of coal and pet-coke, and in co-generation plants for steam and electricity production in industrial sites. Another aspect that will be considered regards the role of the agencies for the environmental control in Romania.