Less waste from waste disposal
In an attempt to dispose of leather wastes efficiently and in the process create useful byproducts rather than toxic ones, a combustion technique has been developed utilizing fluidised bed technology and new dry gas cleaning system. The use of leather as a co-combustion fuel has many advantages.As a biomass waste, leather contains a high degree of volatile organics that burn quickly. However, the combustion can be so rapid that it is difficult to control. Since leather contains chromium, control of the combustion conditions is essential to avoid the formation of the toxic Cr6+ ion. Also the high sulphur content of leather, reaching 2%, is an important consideration. Since the combustion of sulphur results in the production of SO2 gases which are undesirable from an environmental point of view, such gas production must be removed. Using traditional fluidized bed technology with a new dry cleaning system attempts have been made to overcome the problems that leather combustion poses. Fluidised bed combustion uses a continuous stream of air to create turbulence in a mixed bed of fuel, inert material and fuel ash particles. The study involved assessing new combined dry cleaning systems, which improve the combustion of the coal/ leather mixture. The results indicate that with the new system, SO2, HCl and particulate emissions are reduced. In addition, the potential to recycle the combustion ash was explored. This ash has a high chromium content, the recovery of which will remove the need for its import to Europe since it is not available in the EU. The co-combustion of coal and biomass is an area, which can provide huge benefits in many areas such as energy generation and pollution prevention. Research into this field is continuing, and results obtained so far are very encouraging.
