Pyrolysis Characteristics of Refuse Derived Fuel in a Pilot-Scale Unit

Abstract

Various compositions of refuse derived fuel (RDF), and the differences in its thermal degradation behavior, make the modeling, design, and operation of thermal conversion systems a challenge. In this paper, the pyrolysis characteristics of RDF in a pilot-scale unit were investigated to determine the operating conditions for a 30 kg/h scale pyrolysis melting incinerator. The gaseous volatile and tar components in the pyrolysis products were measured using gas chromatography (GC). The morphology of the char derived from RDF pyrolysis was observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The Arrhenius parameters and prediction of the pyrolysis time were obtained from isothermal kinetic results. The results of the kinetic analysis indicated that the firstorder reaction model was reliable for predicting the conversion of RDF pyrolysis. A reasonable thermal decomposition scheme of RDF pyrolysis has also been discussed.

Products from the high temperature pyrolysis of RDF at slow and rapid heating rates

“…Essentially the oil and solid yields decreased while the gas yield increased with increasing temperature. Similar trends in product yields with increasing pyrolysis temperature have been reported by other researchers as well [15,[34][35][36][37][38]. At 800 °C the gas yield increased to 46.9 wt% from 43.6 wt% at 700 °C as result of cracking of larger molecules in the oil products (Table 3) to increase the yields of CH 4 and C 2 -C 4 in the gas products at this temperature.…”

Pyrolysis characteristics of coal and RDF blends in non-isothermal and isothermal conditions

“…Among the reaction models, a first order reaction model [f(˛) = (1 −˛)] matches well with the experimental data as reported by other studies [8,11,19,23]. In a non-isothermal condition, Eq.…”

Study on pyrolysis characteristics of refuse plastic fuel using lab-scale tube furnace and thermogravimetric analysis reactor

“…Dou et al [5] studied the pyrolysis characteristics of RDF in a pilot-scale unit to determine the operating conditions for a 30 kg/h scale pyrolysis melting incinerator. In their study, the pyrolysis products of volatile gas and tar components were measured using gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography mass spectrum detector (GC-MSD), respectively.…”