Production of H2-rich syngas from gasification of unsorted food waste in supercritical water

Hongcai Su; Ekkachai Kanchanatip; Defeng Wang; Rendong Zheng; Zhicheng Huang; Yang Chen; Ishrat Mubeen; Mi Yan

doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2019.11.018

Production of H₂-rich syngas from gasification of unsorted food waste in supercritical water

Waste Manag. 2020 Feb 1:102:520-527. doi: 10.1016/j.wasman.2019.11.018. Epub 2019 Nov 22.

Authors

Hongcai Su¹, Ekkachai Kanchanatip², Defeng Wang³, Rendong Zheng³, Zhicheng Huang¹, Yang Chen⁴, Ishrat Mubeen¹, Mi Yan⁵

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Energy and Power Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China.
² Institute of Energy and Power Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China; Center of Excellence in Environmental Catalysis and Adsorption, Faculty Engineering, Thammasat University, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand.
³ Hangzhou Linjiang Environmental Energy Co. Ltd., Hangzhou 311222, China.
⁴ Institute of Energy and Power Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China; Institute of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia.
⁵ Institute of Energy and Power Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou 310014, China. Electronic address: yanmi1985@zjut.edu.cn.

PMID: 31765972
DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2019.11.018

Abstract

In China, waste sorting practice is not strictly followed, plastics, especially food packaging, are commonly mixed in food waste. Supercritical water gasification (SCWG) of unsorted food waste was conducted in this study, using model unsorted food waste by mixture of pure food waste and plastic. Different operating parameters including reaction temperature, residence time, and feedstock concentration were investigated. Moreover, the effect of three representative food additives namely NaCl, NaHCO₃ and Na₂CO₃ were tested in this work. Finally, comparative analysis about SCWG of unsorted food waste, pure food waste, and plastic was studied. It was found that higher reaction temperature, longer residence time and lower feedstock concentration were advantageous for SCWG of unsorted food waste. Within the range of operating parameters in this study, when the feedstock concentration was 5 wt%, the highest H₂ yield (7.69 mol/kg), H₂ selectivity (82.11%), total gas yield (17.05 mol/kg), and efficiencies of SCWG (cold gas efficiency, gasification efficiency, carbon gasification efficiency, and hydrogen gasification efficiency) were obtained at 480 °C for 75 min. Also, the addition of food additives with Na⁺ promoted the SCWG of unsorted food waste. The Na₂CO₃ showed the best catalytic performance on enhancement of H₂ and syngas production. This research demonstrated the positive effect of waste sorting on the SCWG of food waste, and provided novel results and information that help to overcome the problems in the process of food waste treatment and accelerate the industrial application of SCWG technology in the future.

Keywords: Gasification; H(2)-rich syngas; Supercritical water; Unsorted food waste.

MeSH terms

China
Food
Hydrogen
Refuse Disposal*
Water*

Substances

Water
Hydrogen