Abstract
The effect of fuel composition on gasification process performance was investigated by performing mass and energy balances on a pre-pilot scale bubbling fluidized bed reactor fed with mixtures of plastic waste, wood, and coal. The fuels containing plastic waste produced less H2, CO, and CO2 and more light hydrocarbons than the fuels including biomass. The lower heating value (LHV) progressively increased from 5.1 to 7.9 MJ/Nm3 when the plastic waste fraction was moved from 0% to 100%. Higher carbonaceous fines production was associated with the fuel containing a large fraction of coal (60%), producing 87.5 g/kgFuel compared to only 1.0 g/kgFuel obtained during the gasification test with just plastic waste. Conversely, plastic waste gasification produced the highest tar yield, 161.9 g/kgFuel, while woody biomass generated only 13.4 g/kgFuel. Wood gasification showed a carbon conversion efficiency (CCE) of 0.93, while the tests with two fuels containing coal showed lowest CCE values (0.78 and 0.70, respectively). Plastic waste and wood gasification presented similar cold gas efficiency (CGE) values (0.75 and 0.76, respectively), while that obtained during the co-gasification tests varied from 0.53 to 0.73.
Highlights
IntroductionThere is a growing interest to apply thermo-chemical process to different kind of wastes, considering the environmental impact of these materials and economic aspects of power plants.Gasification is a viable technology for the thermo-chemical conversion of biomass and wastes due to its greater environmental sustainability and to the production of valuable products from different fuels.Among all gasification technologies, fluidization is often chosen as a reference for its great operating flexibility: the good mixing properties that ensure uniform process conditions, while simultaneously feeding different fuels; the possibility to utilize various fluidizing agents [1,2,3,4]; to operate with or without a specific bed catalyst [5,6,7,8,9,10]; to add reagents along the reactor height [11,12,13,14], and to feed fuels in different positions of the reactor [15,16,17]
These results indicate that coal addition to the blends does not affect the trends shown by the main producer gas constituents obtained during the tests without coal
The gasification process performance was evaluated by performing mass and energy balances on the BFB reactor fed with plastic waste, woody biomass, and their blends with coal
Summary
There is a growing interest to apply thermo-chemical process to different kind of wastes, considering the environmental impact of these materials and economic aspects of power plants.Gasification is a viable technology for the thermo-chemical conversion of biomass and wastes due to its greater environmental sustainability and to the production of valuable products from different fuels.Among all gasification technologies, fluidization is often chosen as a reference for its great operating flexibility: the good mixing properties that ensure uniform process conditions, while simultaneously feeding different fuels; the possibility to utilize various fluidizing agents [1,2,3,4]; to operate with or without a specific bed catalyst [5,6,7,8,9,10]; to add reagents along the reactor height [11,12,13,14], and to feed fuels in different positions of the reactor [15,16,17]. There is a growing interest to apply thermo-chemical process to different kind of wastes, considering the environmental impact of these materials and economic aspects of power plants. Gasification is a viable technology for the thermo-chemical conversion of biomass and wastes due to its greater environmental sustainability and to the production of valuable products from different fuels. Since the formation of these by-products is strictly correlated to the fuel structure and composition, the possible synergy between the products and the intermediates produced during the gasification of different materials could lead to improving the process performance, reducing carbon losses, and increasing producer gas energy content. Gasification plants can be conducted by co-feeding different fuels in order to produce better results in term of producer gas quality and energy saving respect to those obtained by utilizing a single material
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
