Experimental analysis and preliminary assessment of an integrated thermochemical process for production of low-molecular weight biofuels from municipal solid waste (MSW)

Abstract

This work explores the use of advanced thermal technologies for the conversion of refuse derived fuel prepared from MSW into clean syngas suitable for catalytic transformation into light hydrocarbon products. In particular, the possibilities for the specific production of C1-C4 hydrocarbons utilising a good quality syngas produced by two-stage plasma assisted gasification method are investigated. A number of catalytic tests were prepared with modified chemistry to evaluate the preliminary component activities on real waste-derived syngas. C1-C4 paraffines formed in all cases as a main products, with different product distribution for different conditions examined (up to 95% bioSNG on hydrocarbon product for supported nickel, 40% bioLPG for Cu-Zn/ZSM-5 catalysts mix). CO2 was the main byproduct with outlet concentrations ranging from 10 to 50% in volume. When increasing H2:CO in the syngas by external addition of hydrogen, CO conversion increases, as well as paraffin selectivity and hydrocarbons yield. Projections on a 65 MW thermal input bioSNG plant show that if 40 MW of electrical output from renewable sources are used to power a PEM stack during high power availability, the production of bioSNG could be increased by more than 33%, with a simultaneous reduction in CO2 emissions of more than 43%.

Plasma-Assisted Gasification for Waste-to-Fuels Applications

“…Downstream of the plasma arc converter, the syngas is cooled down to below 200 °C in a steam boiler prior to treatment to remove any residual particulates and acid gas contaminants (mostly, Cl− and S2− based) via conventional gas scrubbing techniques, which are commercially available at small scale. The full layout of gas cleaning and gas analysis is detailed in a recent publication 48 . Gas extractive sampling was used to analyse the syngas from different locations (see dotted lines in Figure 2).…”

“…The products of decomposition, CO and O, for example, generated at high temperature from CO 2 , are protected from reverse reactions by reacting with excess hydrogen and carbon atoms from tars decomposition, as these reaction are much faster than CO oxidation. 46 This ensures that rapid reforming can be achieved during the residence time of the syngas inside the furnace, which is typically between 1 and 5 s. 47…”

Impact of layered and delaminated zeolites on catalytic fast pyrolysis of microalgae using fixed-bed reactor and Py-GC/MS

“…Thermochemical and biochemical are the two promising technologies for biomass conversion into liquid, gas, and solid fuels [14]. Among thermochemical technologies, pyrolysis gained much attention because of biomass conversion into liquid fuels.…”

Optimised production of tailored syngas from municipal solid waste (MSW) by sorption-enhanced gasification

“…Syngas refers to the gas mixture mainly comprising H 2 , CO and CO 2 , which is an intermediate used for the production of hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, ethanol and synthetic hydrocarbons. If the focus is that of producing a high quality syngas suitable for a catalytic process, it is important that resulting syngas is free of contaminants, tars and nitrogen, the last of these being the most difficult to remove from syngas products [3]. Allothermal or indirect gasification [4] is one of the most suitable and cost-effective thermochemical routes that allow N 2 -free syngas to be produced.…”

“…sand or olivine), which is then transferred to the steam-blown gasifier to supply the required heat. In this sense, there is no need for an air separation unit for O 2 production, thus reducing plant costs [3]. This DFB gasification concept has been demonstrated in different plants at commercial scale [6][7][8][9][10][11], as well as at smaller lab-scale facilities for a wide variety of residual feedstocks [12][13][14].…”