Experimental investigation of waste oil processing by partial oxidation in a moving bed reactor

Abstract

A novel approach for oil sludge processing was proposed. The processing can be realized in the reactor with moving layer of inert solid heat carrier, which will allow operating in a continuous mode. This method can be carried out both with an excess of oxidant with the burning of combustible liquids to CO2 and H2O, and with a lack of oxidant when the initial fuel is being converted to syngas. Experimental investigation of air and air–steam conversion of oil waste in a counterflow moving bed filtration combustion reactor was carried out. The oil supply in the experiments was varied from 6 to 13 ml/min so that the stoichiometric excess ratio of oxygen with respect to oil (α) varied from 0.4 to 1.0. The maximum calorific value of the product gas and the efficiency of the process was observed at α = 0.4. Laboratory scale studies showed a possibility to generate the product gas with calorific value up to 7 MJ/m3 and the chemical efficiency of the process to 94%. At α = 0.6–0.8 the calorific value of the product gas is substantially reduced, however, the resulting gas is free of hydrocarbons and can be used in the chemical industry.