More efficient biomass gasification via torrefaction

Wood torrefaction is a mild pyrolysis process that improves the fuel properties of wood. At temperatures between 230 and 300 °C, the hemicellulose fraction of the wood decomposes, so that torrefied wood and volatiles are formed. Mass and energy balances for torrefaction experiments at 250 and 300 °C are presented. Advantages of torrefaction as a pre-treatment prior to gasification are demonstrated. Three concepts are compared: air-blown gasification of wood, air-blown gasification of torrefied wood (both at a temperature of 950 °C in a circulating fluidized bed) and oxygen-blown gasification of torrefied wood (at a temperature of 1200 °C in an entrained flow gasifier), all at atmospheric pressure. The overall exergetic efficiency of air-blown gasification of torrefied wood was found to be lower than that of wood, because the volatiles produced in the torrefaction step are not utilized. For the entrained flow gasifier, the volatiles can be introduced into the hot product gas stream as a ‘chemical quench’. The overall efficiency of such a process scheme is comparable to direct gasification of wood, but more exergy is conserved in as chemical exergy in the product gas (72.6% versus 68.6%). This novel method to improve the efficiency of biomass gasification is promising; therefore, practical demonstration is recommended.     

Hydrogen-rich syngas produced from co-gasification of municipal solid waste and wheat straw in an oxygen-enriched air fluidized bed

The gasification characteristics of solid waste and wheat straw were investigated in an oxygen-rich atmosphere by using a laboratory-scale continuous fluidized bed reactor in the range of oxidation equivalent (ER) of 0.2~0.5 and reaction temperature of 600 °C~900 °C. Gasification of biomass and waste is an economical method for hydrogen production. When air is used as a carrier gas to gasify municipal solid waste, increasing the oxygen concentration can effectively increase the hydrogen concentration of the syngas. The product distribution of gasification reaction under different mixing ratios and reaction parameters was obtained. As is shown in the results, first, when the ER is between 0.2 and 0.5, if ER decreases by 0.1, the hydrogen concentration of gas production will increase by about 30%; second, if the oxygen concentration increases by 5%, the hydrogen concentration of gas production will increase by about 14%, and the calorific value of gas production will increase by about 14–18%; third, after adding wheat straw in a ratio of 1:1, due to the reduction of plastics, the overall yield of syngas decreased, but the yield of hydrogen increased, and the concentration of hydrogen in syngas increased by 6.4%.     

Supplying hydrogen vehicles and ferries in Western Norway with locally produced hydrogen from municipal solid waste

Gibbs free energy minimization has been used to estimate the hydrogen production potential of air gasification of the wet organic fractions of municipal solid waste available in the Bergen region in Western Norway. The aim of this work was to obtain an upper limit of the amount of hydrogen that could be produced and to estimate of the number of vehicles: passenger ferries and cars that could be supplied with an alternative fuel. The hydrogen production potential was investigated as function of waste composition, moisture content, heat loss, and carbon conversion factor. The amount of hydrogen annually available for both gasification and gasification combined with water-gas-shift-reaction was calculated for different scenarios. Up to 2700 tonne H₂ per year could be produced in the best case scenario; which would, if only utilised for maritime operations, be enough to supply nine ferries and ten fast passenger boat connections in the Hordaland region in Western Norway with hydrogen.     

CAPE-OPEN simulation of waste-to-energy technologies for urban cities

Uncontrolled waste disposal and unsustainable waste management not only damage the environment, but also affect human health. In most urban areas, municipal solid waste production is constantly increasing following the everlasting increase in energy consumption. Technologies aim to exploit wastes in order to recover energy, decrease the depletion rate of fossil fuels, and reduce waste disposal. In this paper, the annual amount of municipal solid waste disposed in the greater metropolitan area of Thessaloniki is taken into consideration, in order to size and model a combined heat and power facility for energy recovery. From the various waste-to-energy technologies available, a fluidised bed combustion boiler combined heat and power plant was selected and modelled through the use of COCO, a CAPE-OPEN simulation software, to estimate the amount of electrical and thermal energy that could be generated for different boiler pressures. Although average efficiency was similar in all cases, providing almost 15% of Thessaloniki’s energy needs, a great variation in the electricity to thermal energy ratio was observed.     

Hydrogen-rich gas production by steam gasification of municipal solid waste (MSW) using NiO supported on modified dolomite

NiO on modified dolomite (NiO/MD) catalysts were developed for hydrogen-rich gas production from steam gasification of municipal solid waste (MSW). The catalysts were prepared through deposition-precipitation method and characterized by various characterization methods. The activity of NiO/MD on the steam gasification of MSW was investigated in a lab-scale fixed bed. The results indicated that the catalysts could significantly eliminate the tar in the gas production and increase the hydrogen yield. In addition, higher temperature contributed to higher hydrogen production and gas yield, meanwhile, the optimal ratio of steam to MSW (S/M) was found to be 1.23. In the experimental conditions, the NiO/MD catalysts showed a good performance over a long lifetime test.     

城市垃圾焚烧与热能利用

结合城市垃圾特点，应用成熟可靠的垃圾焚烧技术，实现了能源有效回收与利用，达到了资源化的目的。     

Design and analysis of a waste gasification energy system with solid oxide fuel cells and absorption chillers

Energy saving is an open point in most European countries where energy policies are oriented to reduce the use of fossil fuels, greenhouses emissions and energy independence, and to increase the use of renewable energies. In the last several years, new technologies have been developed and some of them received subsidies to increase installation and reduce cost. This article presents a new sustainable trigeneration system (power, heat and cool) based on a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system integrated with an absorption chiller for special applications such as hotels, resorts, hospitals, etc. with a focus on plant design and performance. The proposal system is based on the idea of gasifying the municipal waste, producing syngas serving as fuel for the trigeneration system. Such advanced system when improved is thus self-sustainable without dependency on net grid, district heating and district cooling. Other advantage of such waste to energy system is waste management, less disposal to sanitary landfills, saving large municipal fields for other human activity and considerable less environmental impact. Although plant electrical efficiency of such system is not significant but fuel utilization factor along with free fuel, significant less pollutant emissions and self-sustainability are importance points of the proposed system. It is shown that the energy efficiency of such small tri-generation system is more than 83% with net power of 170 kW and district energy of about 250 kW.     

垃圾在流化床中燃烧特性的实验研究

在一台特别设计的小型流化床燃烧实验台上对垃圾可燃物代表组分进行实验研究。实验结果表明,干燥的垃圾一般在床温仅为500℃就能在很短的时间内迅速燃烧,产生明亮的火焰,并使炉膛温度急剧上升．对于个别物料,例如橡胶在短时间内可能出现炉膛中部温度高于床温的情况、物料的形状变化对于它们在流化床内的燃烧影响较大。一般来说,当物料剪碎后,燃烧产生CO量将有所降低,同时炉膛中部温度升高很多。     

Flame characteristics of pulverized torrefied-biomass combusted with high-temperature air

In this work, the flame characteristics of torrefied biomass were studied numerically under high-temperature air conditions to further understand the combustion performances of biomass. Three torrefied biomasses were prepared with different torrefaction degrees after by releasing 10%, 20%, and 30% of volatile matter on a dry basis and characterized in laboratory with standard and high heating rate analyses. The effects of the torrefaction degree, oxygen concentration, transport air velocity, and particle size on the flame position, flame shape, and peak temperature are discussed based on both direct measurements in a laboratory-scale furnace and CFD simulations. The results primarily showed that the enhanced drag force on the biomass particles caused a late release of volatile matter and resulted in a delay in the ignition of the fuel–air mixture, and the maximum flame diameter was mainly affected by the volatile content of the biomass materials. Furthermore, oxidizers with lower oxygen concentrations always resulted in a larger flame volume, a lower peak flame temperature and a lower NO emission. Finally, a longer flame was found when the transport air velocity was lower, and the flame front gradually moved to the furnace exit as the particle size increased. The results could be used as references for designing a new biomass combustion chamber or switching an existing coal-fired boiler to the combustion of biomass.     

Effect of particle size on pyrolysis of single-component municipal solid waste in fixed bed reactor

According to the differences in components, three representative components (plastic, kitchen garbage and wood) in municipal solid waste (MSW) were pyrolyzed in a fixed bed reactor to evaluate the influence of particle size on pyrolysis performance of single-component municipal solid waste (MSW). The bed temperature was set at 800°C and each sample was separated into three different size fractions (0–5 mm, 5–10 mm and 10–20 mm). The results show for all the samples particle size has an effect on pyrolysis product yields and composition: smaller particle size results in higher gas yield with less tar and char; the decrease of particle size can increase H₂ and CO contents of gas, as well as the ash and carbon element contents in the char. And the influence is the much more significant for sample with higher fixed carbon and ash contents, such as kitchen garbage, and less for sample with higher volatile content, plastic in the test.     

A linear programming approach for the optimal planning of a future energy system. Potential contribution of energy recovery from municipal solid wastes

In the present paper the mismatch between the energy supply levels and the end use, in a broader sense, was studied for the Hellenic energy system. The ultimate objective was to optimize the way to meet the country's energy needs in every different administrative and geographical region using renewable energy sources (RES) and at the same time to define the remaining available space for energy recovery units from municipal solid waste (MSW) in each region to participate in the energy system. Based on the results of the different scenarios examined for meeting the electricity needs using linear programming and by using the exergoeconomic analysis the penetration grade was found for the proposed energy recovery units from MSWs in each region.     

Assessment of sustainable biomass resource for energy use in China

This paper assesses the sustainable biomass resource for energy in China. Assessment has been carried out for the following resources: (i) agricultural residues, (ii) forest residues, and (iii) municipal solid waste (MSW). The potential of each resource is estimated for the base years 2008, 2008, and 2007. The energy potentials of these resources in 2008, 2008, and 2007 are estimated to be 14.7, 3.9, and 0.2 EJ, respectively. The total potential including the energy of 6.4 EJ from the proposed low-input high-diversity (LIHD) grassland biomass on the untilled lands for the base years 1996 is equal to about 30.2% of China’s energy consumption in 2008. Furthermore it is projected that sustainable biomass use for energy will reduce net emissions of green house gases (GHG) of 3276.7 million tonnes, and help in emission-reduction target of China and the world.     

Hydrogen-rich syngas produced from the co-pyrolysis of municipal solid waste and wheat straw

The co-thermochemical conversion of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and biomass is a new environmental technology and can produce hydrogen-rich syngas. This study investigated the co-pyrolysis of MSW and wheat straw, using a drop-tube furnace experiment. Using a temperature range of 500 °C–1000 °C, the study assessed pyrolysis gas yield, product distribution, gas low heating value, and carbon conversion of co-pyrolysis MSW with different amounts of wheat straw. Adding wheat straw only slightly increases the gas yield and carbon conversion, but improved the carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in the syngas. At an experimental temperature below 700 °C, adding wheat straw promoted the cracking reaction of hydrocarbon gas, generated by the pyrolysis of MSW. At a temperature of 600 °C, adding 25% wheat straw improved carbon conversion in the blended sample. This study provides a basis for the application of MSW and WS thermo-chemical conversion.     

垃圾焚烧的二次污染物排放处理

随着垃圾焚烧技术的不断发展,由此产生的二次污染问题也日益显现出来,主要包括垃圾焚烧所产生的飞灰污染、烟气中二恶英以及重金属的污染,特别是二恶英污染已引起全世界的关注,这对垃圾焚烧工艺的进一步发展提出了新的挑战。污染给人类的生存环境造成了很大的破坏,严重威胁着人类的安全。因而,二次污染物的排放控制问题成为亟待解决的问题。本文就垃圾焚烧所产生的二次污染物的排放处理进行讨论。     

An experimental study on a novel shredder for municipal solid waste (MSW)

Based on composition and volume-mass properties of MSW (i.e., unit weight, void ratio, and water content), a new way for the breakage of the organic MSW is presented to effectively convert MSW to heat and fuel gas. A lab-scale shredder consisting of compaction and shredding chambers is designed and the breakage process of MSW in the shredder can be divided into three successive phases: deformation, further deformation, compressive shearing. The performances of the shredder, such as the effect of the rotor velocity and hydraulic pressure on product size distribution and specific energy are investigated. The results show that with hydraulic pressure the specific energy is reduced, and size distribution of product is finer. When hydraulic pressure is constant, the specific energy decreases with increasing rotor velocity, while the products size distribution is coarser.     

城市固体废物焚烧过程中二恶英的生成和控制

文中综述了城市固体废物焚烧过程中二恶英的产生机理和影响因素，在此基础上介绍了垃圾焚烧过程中二恶英的各种控制技术和方法。