Multiple-criteria decision analysis to substantiate the prospects of industrial and solid municipal wastes as slurry fuel components

This article investigates the recovery of typical wastes (coal slime, sawdust, cardboard and tire pyrolysis residue) as part of high-moisture slurry fuels. Using a laboratory furnace, the ignition and combustion characteristics of fuels as well as NO( x ) and SO( x ) emissions were determined. Using multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods and experimental results, we access the performance of four different slurry fuels in comparison with bituminous coal. The novelty of the study is based on the following features: we consider a unique set of parameters of the fuels (economic, environmental, safety and energy indicators), as well as three countries for their potential use (the USA, India and Russia); three different methods for calculating the efficiency indicator of each fuel were used. Despite rather low energy performance, the summarizing efficiency indicator of waste-based slurries was 53–93% higher than that of coal. The use of cardboard in the composition of a fuel blend showed the best complex result (the increase in the efficiency indicator was 80–93% relative to coal). The least promising additive was the pyrolysis residue of automobile tires. Its addition resulted in a 10–15% decrease in overall efficiency relative to a slurry without additives. The research results are useful for optimizing the component composition of waste-based slurries, technical and economic development of projects for the incineration of various wastes in the form of high-moisture fuel slurries.