Dielectric properties of MSWI bottom ash for non-invasive monitoring of moisture.

The dielectric procperties of MSWI bottom ash as a function of volumetric water content (VWC) are reported in this paper. The objective was to aid the development of microwave based non-invasive emission monitoring and control system for various bottom ash applications. The dielectric measurements were made, on a 1.5-year-old bottom ash, with an electrical network analyzer in microwave range (300 MHz-1.5 GHz). The VWC of the samples ranged between 0.05 and 0.40 m(3) m(-3). The relationship between the dielectric permittivity and the VWC was modeled with an empirical model and a physically based Birchak model (BM). The results showed that a linear relationship existed between the permittivity and the VWC at higher water contents (>0.25 m(3) m(-3)). However, at lower water contents (<0.25 m(3) m(-3)), the relationship between the permittivity and the WVC was affected by the composition of the bottom ash. The permittivity measurement, with the current method, was not affected by high salt concentrations (10 and 20 dS/m). The empirical model, as compared to BM, provided the best fit between the actual and the predicted water content. The root mean square error (RMSE) values were 0.008-0.010 and 0.06-0.09 m(3) m(-3) for the empirical and the Birchak model, respectively.