Characterization of pyrolysis products of high-ash excavated-waste and its char gasification reactivity and kinetics under a steam atmosphere

Abstract

The focus of this study is the pyrolysis and gasification of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) and fine fractions recovered from the excavation of landfill waste, with an emphasize on the characterization of the reactivity and kinetics of the char-steam gasification. The results from the pyrolysis tests demonstrated that CO and CO2 are the main produced gases during the pyrolysis of the finer fraction of landfill waste. This might be caused by the accumulation of degraded organic materials. The oil products from the pyrolysis of landfill waste were dominated by the derivative products of plastics such as styrene, toluene, and ethylbenzene. The chars obtained from the pyrolysis process were gasified under steam and steam/air atmospheres at temperatures between 800 and 900 °C by using thermogravimetry. The results from the gasification tests demonstrated that the char reactivity was mainly affected by the amount ratio between catalytic elements (K, Ca, Na, Mg, and Fe) over the inhibitor elements (Si, Al, and Cl), as well as the ash amount in the char. The results showed that char from the fine fraction of landfill waste has a higher reactivity than the RDF fraction, due to the high content of catalytic metal elements. These results suggest the use of a smaller sieve opening size for landfill waste separation processes may produce waste fuels with a high reactivity during gasification. Further, based on the thermogravimetric data, the kinetic parameters of landfill waste char gasification were calculated to have activation energies ranging from 54 to 128 kJ/mol.