Effects of Pretreatment on the Pyrolysis of Mixed Solid Wastes

Overview

Globally, 1.3 billion tons of waste are generated per year, with production set to double by 2025. Such a large influx of refuse is costly, inefficient, and poses an environmental and public health threat. This study explores the option of converting waste to fuel, with the objective of maximizing oil yields while improving fuel quality. Three different methods of pretreatment were performed on paper waste; acid wash, acid infusion, and hot water wash. Pretreatment was aimed to remove or alter the structure of inorganic particles within the paper to produce an improved fuel. For both the acid wash and infuse, paper was mixed with a 2% sulfuric acid mixture, however in the acid wash pretreatment the acid was later rinsed out with DI water. The hot water wash was conducted at 100ºC for four hours. The paper samples were then pyrolyzed using a tubular furnace. The change in ash content, product distributions, high heating values of liquid oil/pyrolysis char, and chemical composition of oil products were measured and compared. Acid wash was shown to be the most successful pretreatment method, significantly better than the other pretreated/untreated samples. Acid washed paper was then mixed with polyethylene terephthalate and pyrolyzed. Results revealed improvements in co-pyrolysis, as compared to untreated paper with polyethylene terephthalate. Due to significant reductions in ash content for the acid wash samples, fuel yields grew by 268%. The fuel energy increased from 5 to 14.69 MJ/kg, with the liquid oil containing the highest amount of fermentable sugar. The char produced also has the potential to be used as solid fuel and soil fertilizer.

Competition history

• AJAS 2018 Category not listed

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