Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the use of medical protective equipment, including face masks, to protect the individual from the virus. This work studies the feasibility of using these materials as fuel for thermochemical processes for the production of syngas. A preliminary physic-chemical characterization was made by means of moisture and ash determination, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray fluorescence. Afterward, pyrolysis and gasification tests were executed in a laboratory-scale fluidized bed reactor with chirurgical and FFP2 masks investigating four temperature levels and three different operating conditions (fluidizing agents and dry/wet sample). A qualitative and quantitative analysis of condensable aromatic hydrocarbons in the produced gas, collected during the test campaign, was performed employing a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. The experimental data from the tests were used to propose a hybrid approach to simulate the gasification process, based on experimental laws for the devolatilization step and a thermodynamic equilibrium approach for char gasification. The resulting data were compared with a thermodynamic equilibrium model, showing that the new approach captures non-equilibrium effects always present in real gasifiers operation.
Highlights
Academic Editor: Mark LaserIn modern society, the demands of higher consumption of goods, waste management, and energy supply are among the most significant challenges humans must deal with.Sustainable development has become part of EU legislation and policies: in 2015, the Commission launched the ambitious “Closing the Loop–An EU Action Plan for the CircularEconomy”
This shifted the interest towards advanced thermal conversion processes like gasification and pyrolysis, which are perceived to have the potential of being more efficient in the energy recovery from solid waste and in reducing pollutant emissions, especially the toxic ones
Figure shows thecompared results of the model comparison between the new hybridstrictly approach the hybrid13approach to the thermodynamic equilibrium model, conand a thermodynamic-equilibrium approach
Summary
Academic Editor: Mark LaserIn modern society, the demands of higher consumption of goods, waste management, and energy supply are among the most significant challenges humans must deal with.Sustainable development has become part of EU legislation and policies: in 2015, the Commission launched the ambitious “Closing the Loop–An EU Action Plan for the CircularEconomy”. According to the Agenda 2030 goals, the EU requires the transformation of waste management into sustainable material management This one embeds the principles of the circular economy, enhances the diffusion of renewable energy and provides economic opportunities and reduces the dependence of UE on imported resources [1]. In this framework, Waste-to-Energy (WtE) technologies play a significant role: thanks to WtE, waste sources produce energy in the form of power, heat, high-value chemicals, or transport fuels. This shifted the interest towards advanced thermal conversion processes like gasification and pyrolysis, which are perceived to have the potential of being more efficient in the energy recovery from solid waste and in reducing pollutant emissions, especially the toxic ones
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