Dechlorination of organochloride waste mixture by microwave irradiation before forming solid recovered fuel

Abstract

In order to form a modified solid recovered fuel (SRF) with low chlorine content, high calorific value and well combustion performance, low temperature microwave irradiation was applied to remove the chlorine of the organochloride waste mixture before they were mixed to form SRF. The optimizing conditions of final temperature, microwave absorbents and heating rate were also detected to obtain high dechlorination ratio and high ratio of hydrogen chloride (HCl) to volatiles. In the temperature range of 220–300°C, 280°C would be chose as the optimal low microwave modified temperature concerning at which the dechlorination ratio was high and ratio of HCl to volatiles was relatively high as well; The use of microwave absorbents of graphite and silicon carbide (SiC) had a pronounced effect on the dechlorination of organochloride waste mixture, and the dechlorination ratio was increased significantly which could be reached to 87%, almost 20% higher than absorbent absent sample; The heating rate should set be not too fast nor too slow, and there was no big difference between the heating rate of 13°C/min and 15°C/min; The content of Cl of modified SRF is dramatically decreased and reaches to a low level 0.328%. Hence, the modified SRF can be ascended from the third class to the second class according to the Finland chlorine Classes I-III. Moreover, the combustibility of modified SRF was substantial improved compared to the traditional SRF. The low heating value was almost 20.56MJ/kg which is close to the LHV of lignite coal and bituminous coal in China, and it increased by 60% over that of traditional SRF. Removing chlorine of organochloride waste mixture before they are mixed with other kinds of combustible waste to form a modified SRF which is expected to be an alternative fuel for combustion in the future.