Steam Gasification of Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF):  Influence of Process Temperature on Yield and Product Composition

Abstract

The opportunity of using refuse-derived fuel (RDF) to produce fuel gas seems to be promising, and particular attention has been focused on alternative process technologies such as pyrolysis and gasification. Within this frame, present work relates to experimental tests and obtained results of a series of experimental surveys on RDF gasification with steam, performed by means of a bench-scale rotary kiln plant at different process temperatures, using thermogravimetry (TG) and infrared spectrometry (Fourier transform infrared, FTIR) to characterize the incoming material and online gas chromatography to qualify the gaseous stream. Experimental data show that the gas yield increases with temperature and, with respect to the gas composition, the hydrogen content increases, mainly at the expense of the other gaseous compounds, which highlights the major extension of secondary cracking reactions into the gaseous fraction at higher temperature. Syngas obtained at processing temperatures of 950 °C or higher seems to be suitable for producing hydrogen for ammonia synthesis or for fuel cell applications, whereas, at lower processing temperatures, it seems usable for Fischer−Tropsch synthesis. The low organic content of solid residue does not suggest any other exploitation of the char apart from the landfilling.

Production of gaseous fuel from refuse plastic fuel via co-pyrolysis using low-quality coal and catalytic steam gasification

“…The temperatures used for pyrolysis and gasifi cation were in the range 700°-1000°C at intervals of 50°C. The residence time of gases in the reactor was estimated to be from 8.8 to 11.6 s, according to the equation given by Galvagno et al 19 For each experimental run, the internal temperature of the reactor was kept at a constant elevated temperature. As shown in Fig.…”

Syngas production from pyrolysis of municipal solid waste (MSW) with dolomite as downstream catalysts

“…H 2 and CO contents increased sharply with the increase of the reactor temperature, while CO 2 , CH 4 , C 2 H 4 and C 2 H 6 contents exhibited the opposite tendencies, whereas syngas that has a H 2 / CO molar ratio in the range of 1-2 is highly desirable as feedstock for Fischer-Tropsch synthesis for the production of transportation fuels [30]. Furthermore, syngas reached highest level of 66.30 mol% at 900 8C.…”

Gasification of refuse derived fuel in a fixed bed reactor for syngas production

“…Further, the pyrolytic liquids were found to have relatively low calorific value, but contained 63% of the potential energy in the initial biomass feed and had a much greater density than the original biomass. The steam gasification of RDF was carried out by Galvagno et al (2006) in a series of trials, by varying the process temperature (850-1050°C), to investigate the effect of process temperature on the properties of the products formed and found that higher temperature resulted in higher conversion of the total organic content, which accounts for the greater syngas production. Further, at higher temperatures, the H 2 content in the product gas is always in excess due to the contribution from water.…”