Yousheng Lin

Investigation on thermochemical behavior of co-pyrolysis between oil-palm solid wastes and paper sludge

The pyrolysis characteristics of oil-palm solid wastes, paper sludge and their blends were studied via thermogravimetric analysis. Blends ranging from 10 wt.% to 90 wt.% on dosage ratio were prepared to investigate their co-pyrolysis behavior and kinetics. There was a synergistic interaction at low temperature during co-pyrolysis between oil-palm solid wastes and paper sludge. The synergistic interaction would improve thermochemical pyrolysis reactivity of the blends, which could be attributed to the hydrogenation role and the potential mineral catalytic effects on paper sludge pyrolysis. The value of average activation energy obtained by Starink and Friedmen methods did not gradually decline with the increasing proportion of oil-palm solid wastes in the blends. The lowest average activation energy was achieved when the percentage of oil-palm solid wastes was 70%, which was 152 kJ/mol by Starink and 149 kJ/mol by Friedmen, respectively.

Effects of additives on the co-pyrolysis of municipal solid waste and paper sludge by using thermogravimetric analysis.

By using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), the effects of different additives (MgO, Al2O3 and ZnO) on the pyrolysis characteristics and activation energy of municipal solid waste (MSW), paper sludge (PS) and their blends in N2 atmosphere had been investigated in this study. The experiments resulted that these additives were effective in reducing the initial temperature and activation energy. However, not all the additives were beneficial to reduce the residue mass and enhance the index D. For the different ratios of MSW and PS, the same additive even had the different influences. The catalytic effects of additives were not obvious and the pyrolysis became difficult with the increase of the proportion of PS. Based on all the contrast of the pyrolysis characteristics, MgO was the best additive and 70M30P was the best ratio, respectively.

Conversion of sweet potato waste to solid fuel via hydrothermal carbonization

Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of sweet potato waste was performed to investigate the effect of process parameters including reaction temperature (180-300 °C) and residence time (0-120 min) on the characteristics of hydrochars. The results showed that the increase of reaction temperature and residence time both decreased the yield of hydrochars. With the increase of reaction temperature and residence time, the carbon content of hydrochars increased, while the hydrogen and oxygen contents decreased. The lower H/C and O/C ratios indicated that dehydration and decarboxylation reactions occurred during HTC. The occurrence of aromatization reaction was found in FTIR spectra. Thus, the fixed carbon content, higher heating value, and energy density of hydrochars increased. SEM analysis indicated that HTC developed rough surface with crack on the hydrochars. The thermogravimetric experiments displayed the increase trend in combustion ignition temperature, burnout temperature and activation energy as reaction temperature and time increase, which showed better combustion characteristics.

Hydrothermal carbonization of typical components of municipal solid waste for deriving hydrochars and their combustion behavior

In this work, five typical components were employed as representative pseudo-components to indirectly complete previous established simulation system during hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of municipal solid waste. The fuel characteristics and combustion behavior of HTC-derived hydrochars were evaluated. Results clearly illustrated that the energy ranks of hydrochars were upgraded after HTC. For paper and wood, superior combustion performances of their hydrochars could achieve under suitable conditions. While for food, none positive enrichments on combustion loss rate were observed for hydrochars due to its high solubilization and decomposition under hot compressed water. It was noteworthy that a new weight loss peak was detected for paper and food, suggesting that new compounds were formed. For rubber, the HTC process made the properties of styrene butadiene rubber more close to natural rubber. Therefore, the first peak of hydrochars became significantly intense. While for plastic, only physical changes of polypropylene and polyethylene were observed.

Forecasting the byproducts generated by hydrothermal carbonisation of municipal solid wastes.

The influences of temperature and residence times on the conversion and product distribution during hydrothermal carbonisation of municipal solid wastes were investigated. Analysis of variance and reaction severity were used to comprehensively analyse the experimental results. Analysis results showed both reaction temperature and residence time had varying degrees of impact on production distribution and hydrochars characteristic, while the effect of combine temperature and time was negligible. It is novel to find that the products yield was a linear function of the logarithm of the reaction ordinate. Base on comprehensive consideration, 240 °C to 260 °C and 50 min to 60 min would be the optimised reaction region to achieve relatively better economic benefits for hydrothermal carbonisation of municipal solid waste. By employing the analysis results and estimated models of high heating value and solid yield established in this article, predicting the product characteristics that have not been explored experimentally become possible.

Combustion performance of biocrude oil from solvolysis liquefaction of Chlorella pyrenoidosa by thermogravimetry–Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

The kinetic behavior and evolution characteristics of gaseous products during the combustion of biocrude oil from solvolysis liquefaction of Chlorella pyrenoidosa were investigated by thermogravimetry-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (TG-FTIR). The results indicated the biocrude oil obtained from different ethanol/water mixed ratio had obvious difference with each other. The ignition temperature of biocrude oil from ethanol-water co-solvent was lower than that from pure water solvent, which promoted the comprehensive combustion index. Especially, BO40 (biocrude oil obtained from 40% ethanol content) achieved the lowest ignition temperature (163.4°C) and high comprehensive combustion index (1.24×10-06min-2°C-3). CH, CO, CC, CO2, CO and HCN were the main gaseous products. Compared to other biocrude oil samples, BO40 had high first peak intensity of CH, CO and CC, and low peak intensity of CO, which performed better combustion characteristic.

Effects of aqueous phase recirculation in hydrothermal carbonization of sweet potato waste

Aqueous phase recirculation was investigated in hydrothermal carbonization of sweet potato waste at 220 °C for 60 min. The result showed that the aqueous phase reuse significantly increased the hydrochar yield. The lower H/C and O/C ratios indicated that decarboxylation reaction was promoted. The CC vibration of the benzene backbone became intense, suggesting the occurrence of aromatization and polymerization reactions. Thus, the carbon content and HHV were improved. After recirculation, hydrochar showed a decrease in combustion ignition temperature whereas an increase in pyrolysis initial decomposition temperature. The burnout temperatures in combustion and terminated temperature in pyrolysis both showed an increase trend. The hydrochars obtained from the recirculation step possessed lower emissions of NOX or SO2 than that from reference step. The pyrolysis emission result showed that more high thermal stability components were formed during recirculation step. Overall, aqueous phase recirculation was a feasible way to improve hydrothermal carbonization process.