Municipal Green Waste (MGW) Pyrolysis

Abstract

Pyrolysis is a thermochemical decomposition process, which is used to convert biomass to biofuel (i.e., biooil, biochar, and synthetic gas [syngas]). Municipal green waste (MGW) is considered as one of those biomasses and its conversion into biooil (liquid fuel) pyrolysis has attracted significant interest recently. This article presents both experimental and computational investigations of the pyrolysis process of MGW. Experimental results indicate that about 20% biooil, 48% biochar, and 32% syngas can be achieved from MGW samples collected from Queensland, Australia. A process simulation model was developed using Aspen Plus software for predicting the performance of the pyrolysis process on the basis of a Gibbs free energy minimization approach. The simulation results are validated with the experimentally measured data. The simulation results are in reasonable agreement with experimental data, with a maximum variation of about 15.8%. The validated model was then used to study the impact of the moisture content on biooil and syngas production from MGW.