Thermal upgrading of hydrochar from anaerobic digestion of municipal solid waste organic fraction

Abstract

Solid fraction obtained from anaerobic digestion of municipal solid waste organic fraction is a waste produced in noticeable amounts, which according to circular economy concept can be upgraded to produce new, value-added products like: hydrogen rich process gas and carbon rich solid material. In this study, thermal upgrading of hydrochar by steam gasification was analysed. Raw material was obtained through hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of digestate from anaerobic digestion of wet fraction of municipal solid waste at 200 and 230 °C, and residence time of 60 and 120 min. The further gasification step was carried out at 800 °C and the residence time was 10 min under nitrogen with a steam atmosphere. The main objective of hydrochar upgrading through steam gasification was production of carbon-rich material with developed active surface area. The study presented promising results regarding proper management of mixed wastes, which have not yet been analysed in the literature. It was noted that low temperature and residence time are favouring active surface area development. Analysis of the main gaseous products of the gasification process showed that syngas is composed mainly of H2, CH4, CO2, O2, and CO. The hydrogen concentration was the highest noted for hydrochar obtained at highest temperature and residence time. Analysis of the concentration of each syngas component reveals that combined treatment of digestate from anaerobic digestion through the HTC and gasification process results in H2-rich syngas products and a high H2/CO ratio with parallel fair quality activated carbon.