Quantitative Model of Interactions in the Thermal Decomposition of Key Refuse-Derived Fuel Components

Abstract

Advanced thermal treatment of refuse-derived fuels (RDFs) necessitates accurate determination of the key component fractions and comprehensive understanding of the decomposition characteristics during thermal conversion. In this paper, the linear weighted sum method is employed to retrieve mass fractions of key components in different municipal solid waste (MSW)-derived fuel pellets through thermogravimetric (TG) analysis. A new Gaussian-fitting-based adjusting model is proposed to quantitatively assess the effect of the interaction on the decomposition of individual components based on differential thermogravimetric (DTG) analysis. Results show that the mass fractions of combustible key components can be determined from DTG curves and by applying the Gaussian-fitting-based adjusting model, the effects of the interaction on the decomposition of polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and cellulose can be identified. It is found that, after mixing PE into RDFs, both the reaction time and activation energy of PE are decreased. The degradation of PVC starts at a higher temperature within the temperature range from 200 to 380 °C, and its reaction time is decreased by 50% within the temperature range from 380 to 500 °C. The activation energy of cellulose is slightly increased. The model proposed in this paper could be a promising method to evaluate the interaction between different key components in mixed samples for optimizing the parameters of the thermal conversion system.