Evaluation for the Production of Bio-Carbon and Bio-Oil through a Combined Process of Gasification and Slow Pyrolysis of the Organic Waste Fraction

Abstract

The management of vast amounts of urban solid waste is daily. The population growth must create diligent politics that mitigate the impacts created by the increased demand for energy and basic needs. This research aimed to analyze biocarbon and bio-oil production performance through the combination of gasification and slow pyrolysis using a cylindrical reactor with a fixed bed. The residues were collected from the market square of “La Satélite” located in Florencia-Caquetá, and the organic fraction was separated without any previous treatment. For this, an experimental design was randomly created with two factors: 6 work temperatures for the reactor (150, 250, 350, 450, 550, 600°C) and three samples of residues (5, 10 and 15 kg), for a total of 18 treatments and three repetitions. The results were analyzed through analysis of variance (ANOVA), obtaining the highest biomass production with 150°C and 15kg of residue and the highest amount of bio-oil with the combination of 5kg of residue with 150°C. The results demonstrate that combining these two thermochemical processes (gasification and slow pyrolysis) is an efficient and sustainable way to treat solid residues that should be implemented on a large scale.