Detection of contamination from railway sleeper waste in solid biofuel

Abstract

The increasing amount of waste in various industries has led to the phenomenon that pellets contaminated with waste materials, such as plastics, binders of petrochemical origin, partly or wholly made from furniture waste, and shredded railway sleeper waste, which are saturated with creosote oils, are also entering the market. Solid biofuel contaminated by materials such as shredded railway sleeper waste lead to damage of the heating equipment and emissions can impact consumers’ health. Incinerating this type of hazardous waste and fuel contaminated in facilities not designed for this purpose (such as waste incinerators and cement plants) can lead to the emission of harmful organic compounds such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Given the health risks posed by the release of toxic chemicals into the atmosphere during the uncontrolled incineration of this type of hazardous waste, it is crucial to investigate methods for monitoring the purity of solid biofuels against contamination from shredded railway sleeper waste. This article presents research that has led to the preparation of reliable methodologies for the detection of contamination from railway sleeper waste in solid biofuel. Gas chromatography tests were able to find samples that had creosote oil components, which clearly showed that shredded railway sleeper waste had been added to the biofuel pellets. According to the research presented here, the most common indicators of the presence of railway sleeper waste in biomass pellets are acenaphthene, fluorene, phenanthrene, anthracene, fluoranthene, and pyrene.