The Effect of the Plasma Torch System to Treat the Bio-mass Wastes with Additives and Steam
Date Issued
2008
Date
2008
Author(s)
Wu, Chung-Yao
Abstract
This study examined the feasibility and operation performance of plasma torch (PT) pyrolysis and gasification of biomass wastes, taking sunflower-oil cake as the target material. Emphases were focused on the effects of the pyrolysis and gasification conditions on the yields and compositions of major species of gas products when adding additives. The additives used were K2CO3 and ZnO, and the reaction temperature was set at 973 K. A comparison of the constitutes of gas products via nitrogen plasma torch (N-PT) and steam plasma torch (S-PT) was made. n the N-PT process without the additives, the maximum accumulated volume fractions (or mass fractions) excluding N2, H2O, CO2 and NOx for the gas products of CO, H2 and CH4 are 29.77 vol.% (84.29 wt.%), 69.25 vol.% (14 wt.%) and 0.93 vol.% (1.51 wt.%), respectively. As 5 wt.% of K2CO3 was added to the N-PT process (noted as NK-PT), the volume fractions of CO and CH4 in the gas products were increased, giving fractions of CO, H2 and CH4 of 44.88 vol.% (79.07 wt.%), 39.29 vol.% (4.94 wt.%) and 18.8 vol.% (15.9 wt.%), respectively. The effect of adding 5 wt.% of ZnO to the N-PT process (denoted as NZ-PT) on the fractions of CO, H2 and CH4 was insignificant, yielding 28.6 vol.% (83.53 wt.%), 70.4 vol.% (14.7 wt.%) and 0.95 vol.% (1.58 wt.%), respectively.n S-PT process without the additives, the fractions of CO, H2 and CH4 are 7.16 vol.% (41.22wt.%), 85.7 vol.% (35.22 wt.%) and 7.11 vol.% (23.39 wt.%), respectively. A comparison with those of the N-PT indicated significant increases of the fractions of H2 and CH4 in the gas products for the S-PT. For the S-PT process with addition of 5 wt.% of K2CO3 (called as SK-PT process), the fractions of CO, H2 and CH4 are 6.54 vol.% (42.57 wt.%), 89.25 vol.% (41.49 wt.%) and 4.17 vol.% (15.51 wt.%), respectively, indicating an increase of fraction of H2. An addition of 5 wt.% of ZnO to the S-PT (expressed as SZ-PT process) yielded the fractions of CO, H2 and CH4 of 4.56 vol.% (31.31 wt.%), 89.22 vol.% (43.8 wt.%) and 6.13 vol.% (24.09 wt.%), respectively, also showing an increase of fraction of H2. Futher, the volume fraction of CH4 for the SZ-PT is higher than that for the SK-PT.he above results can be summarized as follows. 1) An addition of K2CO3 to the N-PT enhances the formation of CO and CH4. 2) An introduction of steam to the PT increases the volume fractions of H2 and CH4. 3) Adding K2CO3 and ZnO to the S-PT further increases the volume fractions of H2. 4) SZ-PT and SK-PT give about the same volume fraction of H2 of 89.2 vol.%, while the volume fraction of CH4 for SZ-PT is 6.13 vol.% better than that for SK-PT of 4.17 vol.%.As bio-energy is now accepted as having a potential to supply a significant portion of the projected renewable energy provisions of the future, the information provided by this study is thus useful for converting the biomass waste to fuel gas via the proposed torch plasma pyrolysis and gasification techniques, approaching to meet the goal of full recycle of biomass wastes and zero biomass wastes.
Subjects
Plasma torch
steam plasma torch
sunflower-oil cake
pyrolysis
gasification
K2CO3
ZnO
syngas
SDGs
Type
thesis
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