Abstract
Due to excessive population, urbanization and economic development, energy demand and its subsequent resource utilization and waste generation has increased which leads to environmental and social impacts. Unsegregated household waste or confused waste (CW), a major contributor of municipal solid waste (MSW) possesses the maximum threat to environment. Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) with CW as heterogeneous feedstock, forms an integrated solution in addressing all of the above problems. Thus, HTL of CW is investigated in detail to obtain high yields of the desired liquid product. A maximum yield of 45.83 % was obtained at a temperature of 340 °C at a residence time of 60 min, when the aqueous phase is recirculated in place of hydrothermal medium at a ratio of 12 ml/g. At these conditions, GCMS analysis of bio-oil depicted a high hydrocarbons content with both higher and lower ends, thus resulting in a superior crude formation. The elemental recovery analysis depicted around 60 % recovery of carbon and 50 % recovery of hydrogen in the bio-oil. The energy recovery percentage and energy conversion ratio for HTL of CW were determined to be 70 % and 0.60, whereas the energy feasibility of the process was ascertained by a net energy ratio (NER) of 10.2. HTL was investigated for the amount of GHGs emitted during its conversion and usage stage, and was found to be 3000 g CO2 eq emitted/kg of solid waste. Also, these GHG emissions were compared against the currently available solid waste management technology and the obtained results were found to be on par with the incineration process and significantly lower than pyrolysis and landfill technology.
Published Version
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