Pyrolysis wastewater treatment by adsorption on biochars produced by poplar biomass.

Pyrolysis is a widely studied thermochemical process, however the disposal of the produced byproducts is an unexplored field. In particular, the acqueous phase, characterized by a high organic load (TOC), must be necessarily treated. Aims of this work is to study the potentiality of biochar as adsorbent material for the treatment of this wastewater. For this aim, pyrolysis wastewater and biochar produced in the same plant were used. Two biochars produced at different temperatures (550 and 750 °C) and an activated biochar produced by chemical activation with NaOH of the raw biomass were tested. The study shows that higher temperature in the biochar production leads to higher sorption capacity of the organic compounds due to an increase of the surface area. The activation process further increases the surface area of the biochar that becomes similar to that of a commercial activated carbon while the sorption capacity exceeds that of commercial activated carbon of 2.5 times.

Tetrachloroethene recovery and hazard reduction of spent powders from dry cleaning process.

Dry cleaning facilities using perchloroethylene produce a solid waste consisting of spent filtering powders with a high content of residual perchloroethylene, together with dyes and non-volatile residues. Untreated spent powders, classified as hazardous waste, cannot be disposed in landfill and incineration represents the only viable alternative. In this study, together with a full characterisation of the waste, the removal and recovery of the residual perchloroethylene by means of different heat treatments was investigated. In particular, tests of distillation and stripping with air and steam were carried out, evaluating the effectiveness of the treatments by quantifying the residual perchloroethylene in the samples treated. The results obtained show that the spent filtering powders contained about 25% wt. of perchloroethylene and that the maximum perchloroethylene recovery was obtained by steam stripping; approximately 98% after only 50 minutes. However, this treatment accounted for the production of a liquid mixture containing perchloroethylene and of a solid waste that required a further washing with boiling water to decrease the residual organic content below the eligibility criteria for landfill disposal.

Prediction of syngas quality for two-stage gasification of selected waste feedstocks.

This paper compares the syngas produced from methane with the syngas obtained from the gasification, in a two-stage reactor, of various waste feedstocks. The syngas composition and the gasification conditions were simulated using a simple thermodynamic model. The waste feedstocks considered are: landfill gas, waste oil, municipal solid waste (MSW) typical of a low-income country, the same MSW blended with landfill gas, refuse derived fuel (RDF) made from the same MSW, the same RDF blended with waste oil and a MSW typical of a high-income country. Energy content, the sum of H2 and CO gas percentages, and the ratio of H2 to CO are considered as measures of syngas quality. The simulation shows that landfill gas gives the best results in terms of both H2+CO and H2/CO, and that the MSW of low-income countries can be expected to provide inferior syngas on all three quality measures. Co-gasification of the MSW from low-income countries with landfill gas, and the mixture of waste oil with RDF from low-income MSW are considered as options to improve gas quality.

Thermodynamic behaviour of sodium and calcium based sorbents in the emission control of waste incinerators.

The dry treatment of flue gas produced by incineration processes is discussed thermodynamically. The study investigates the theoretical limits achieved by sodium and calcium based sorbents in the removal of the pollutant species HCl, NOx and SO2. Calculations were performed varying the temperature and the molar ratio between the amount of the injected alkaline sorbent and the content of the pollutant gaseous species in the flue gas. Results show that sodium cation based sorbents are more efficient than calcium based ones in the whole investigated temperature range (100-600 degrees C). The higher effectiveness of sodium based sorbents is particularly remarkable towards hydrogen chloride, whose concentration can always be reduced below the values set by the environmental regulations. Possible improvements in the treatment efficiency of combustion fumes obtainable with sodium based sorbents can be mainly summarised in a lower concentration of HCl in the treated gas and in a partial reduction of NOx concentration.

Automobile shredder residue gasification.

Automobile Shredder Residue (ASR) shows a broad chemical composition owing to the presence of different materials, and its high organic content makes it interesting as a source of energy. In this work, a bench scale two-stage reactor is used for gasifying ASR. The reactor shows an efficient ASR gasification, avoiding the formation of difficult to manage char and tar and allowing an easy recovery of energy. The results of the investigation were used to test a simple model based on mass and energy balances and chemical equilibrium, predicting syngas composition including the presence of problematic elements such as sulphur and chlorine. Gasification data calculated by the model agree in a satisfactory way with the experimental ones. Due to the large variation in ASR composition, the model predicts that ASR gasification is industrially feasible only if a blend of ASR and RDF is used as a reactor feed.