Isabella Pecorini

Biochemical methane potential tests of different autoclaved and microwaved lignocellulosic organic fractions of municipal solid waste.

The aim of this research was to enhance the anaerobic biodegradability and methane production of two synthetic Organic Fractions of Municipal Solid Waste with different lignocellulosic contents by assessing microwave and autoclave pre-treatments. Biochemical Methane Potential assays were performed for 21days. Changes in the soluble fractions of the organic matter (measured by soluble chemical oxygen demand, carbohydrates and proteins), the first order hydrolysis constant kh and the cumulated methane production at 21days were used to evaluate the efficiency of microwaving and autoclaving pretreatments on substrates solubilization and anaerobic digestion. Microwave treatment led to a methane production increase of 8.5% for both the tested organic fractions while autoclave treatment had an increase ranging from 1.0% to 4.4%. Results showed an increase of the soluble fraction after pre-treatments for both the synthetic organic fractions. Soluble chemical oxygen demand observed significant increases for pretreated substrates (up to 219.8%). In this regard, the mediocre results of methanes production led to the conclusion that autoclaving and microwaving resulted in the hydrolysis of a significant fraction of non-biodegradable organic substances recalcitrant to anaerobic digestion.

Experimental evaluation of two different types of reactors for CO2 removal from gaseous stream by bottom ash accelerated carbonation

Low methane content landfill gas may be enriched by removing carbon dioxide. An innovative process, based on carbon dioxide capture and storage by means of accelerated carbonation of bottom ash is proposed and studied for the above purpose. Within this research framework we devoted a preliminary research activity to investigate the possibility of improving the way the contact between bottom ash and landfill gas takes place: this is the scope of the work reported in this paper. Two different types of reactors - fixed bed and rotating drum - were designed and constructed for this purpose. The process was investigated at laboratory scale. As the aim of this phase was the comparison of the performances of the two different reactors, we used a pure stream of CO2 to preliminarily evaluate the reactor behaviors in the most favorable condition for the process (i.e. maximum CO2 partial pressure at ambient condition). With respect to the simple fixed bed reactor concept, some modifications were proposed, consisting of separating the ash bed in three layers. With the three layer configuration we would like to reduce the possibility for the gas to follow preferential paths through the ash bed. However, the results showed that the process performances are not significantly influenced by the multiple layer arrangement. As an alternative to the fixed bed reactor, the rotating drum concept was selected in order to provide continuous mixing of the solids. Two operating parameters were considered and varied during the tests: the filling ratio and the rotating speed. Better performances were observed for lower filling ratio while the rotating speed showed minor importance. Finally the performances of the two reactors were compared. The rotating drum reactor is able to provide improved carbon dioxide removal with respect to the fixed bed one, especially when the rotating reactor is operated at low filling ratio values and slow rotating speed values. Comparing the carbon dioxide specific removal obtained by using the rotating reactor (35-37g/kgBA), in the best operating conditions, with that measured for the fixed bed reactor (21-23g/kgBA), an increase of about 61-66% is observed.