Mixed Municipal Solid Waste Hygienisation for Refuse-Derived Fuel Production by Ozonation in the Novel Configuration Using Fluidized Bed and Horizontal Reactor

This study aimed to determine whether mixed municipal solid waste used for alternative fuel production can be effectively treated with ozone hygienisation in a gaseous phase. It was determined that the use of a fluidised bed reactor and a horizontal reactor with respect to processing the light fraction and the heavy fraction of waste effectively contributes to the elimination or reduction of the number of selected groups of microorganisms inhabiting mixed municipal solid waste. With the use of microbiological analysis, the presence of vegetative bacteria, spores, fungi, actinomycetes and pathogenic bacteria, i.g. Staphylococcus spp., Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Enterococcus faecalis , and Clostridium perfringens were determined. It was found that ozonation contributed to the elimination of the microorganisms in the tested raw materials in different ways. The efficiency of hygienisation was dependent upon whether the process was performed upon the heavy fraction or the light fraction of waste. In addition, the elimination of microorganisms was influenced by drying the samples—this caused a significant decline in their levels of humidity. Based on the results, it must be considered that presented disinfection process may be used for the hygienisation of raw materials for the production of alternative fuel in the future, given that the source of this fuel can be either a light fraction or a heavy fraction of mixed municipal solid waste.