title: Determining the biomass fraction of mixed waste fuels: A comparison of existing industry and (14)C-based methodologies.
abstract: (14)C analysis of flue gas by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) and liquid scintillation counting (LSC) were used to determine the biomass fraction of mixed waste at an operational energy-from-waste (EfW) plant. Results were converted to bioenergy (% total) using mathematical algorithms and assessed against existing industry methodologies which involve manual sorting and selective dissolution (SD) of feedstock. Simultaneous determinations using flue gas showed excellent agreement: 44.8 ± 2.7% for AMS and 44.6 ± 12.3% for LSC. Comparable bioenergy results were obtained using a feedstock manual sort procedure (41.4%), whilst a procedure based on selective dissolution of representative waste material is reported as 75.5% (no errors quoted). (14)C techniques present significant advantages in data acquisition, precision and reliability for both electricity generator and industry regulator.
authors.affiliation: SUERC Radiocarbon Laboratory, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride G75 0QF, Scotland, UK. Electronic address: Graham.Muir@glasgow.ac.uk.
authors.forename: G K P
authors.initials: GK
authors.lastname: Muir
authors.affiliation: Stopford Energy and Environment, The Gordon Manley Building, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, England, UK.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hayward
authors.affiliation: SUERC Radiocarbon Laboratory, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride G75 0QF, Scotland, UK.
authors.forename: B G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Tripney
authors.affiliation: SUERC Radiocarbon Laboratory, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride G75 0QF, Scotland, UK.
authors.forename: G T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Cook
authors.affiliation: SUERC Radiocarbon Laboratory, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride G75 0QF, Scotland, UK.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Naysmith
authors.affiliation: Stopford Energy and Environment, The Gordon Manley Building, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, England, UK.
authors.forename: B M J
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Herbert
authors.affiliation: NERC Radiocarbon Facility, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride G75 0QF, Scotland, UK.
authors.forename: M H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Garnett
authors.affiliation: Stopford Energy and Environment, The Gordon Manley Building, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, England, UK.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wilkinson
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D056804:Biofuels / Q000032:analysis*; D018533:Biomass; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D004867:Equipment Design; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D006113:United Kingdom; D018505:Waste Management / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D014866:Waste Products / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D014866:Waste Products
keywords: (14)C (AMS/LSC) methods; Bioenergy; Energy-from-waste (EfW) plant; Manual sort; Selective dissolution