Sustainable Environmental Assessment of Waste-to-Energy Practices: Co-Pyrolysis of Food Waste and Discarded Meal Boxes

Abstract

The reuse of biomass waste is conducive to the recovery of resources and can solve the pollution problem caused by incineration and landfill. For this reason, the thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) was used to study the pyrolysis of the mushroom sticks (MS) and discarded meal boxes at different heating rates (10 °C·min−1, 20 °C·min−1, 30 °C·min−1). The statistical analysis showed that the factors of pyrolysis temperature and particle size had a greater effect, while the heating rate was significant. The TGA revealed that the maximum weight loss rate of the co-pyrolysis of MS and discarded meal boxes increased with the rise of the heating rate, the temperature at which the pyrolysis started and ended increased, and the thermal weight loss displayed a hysteresis phenomenon. By comparing the theoretical heat weight loss curves with the experimental curves, a synergistic effect of the co-pyrolysis process between MS and discarded meal boxes was demonstrated, and the co-pyrolysis process resulted in a reduction in the solid residue content of the products. The Coats-Redfern method was used to fit the pyrolysis process of MS and discarded meal boxes, which applied the first-order kinetic model to describe the main process of pyrolysis and obtained the reaction activation energy between 43 and 45 kJ·mol−1. The results indicated that co-pyrolysis of MS and discarded meal boxes could decrease the activation energy of the reaction, make the reaction easier, promote the degree of pyrolysis reaction, reduce the generation of pollutants, and provide a theoretical basis for the recycling and energy utilization of MS and discarded meal boxes.

Synergistic Effects and Kinetic Analysis in Co-Pyrolysis of Peanut Shells and Polypropylene

“…To further determine the kinetic parameters and reaction mechanism of the co-pyrolysis, six sets of values were taken for the number of reaction orders, n = 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3 at 10 • C•min −1 to bring the experimental data into Equations ( 9) and (10) for the least-squares fitting, and the linear fitting results are shown in Table 4. In the case of PS, R 2 increases first and then decreases with the increase of n. When n = 1.5, the linear correlation coefficient is the largest (R 2 = 0.984), Ea = 78.65 kJ•mol −1 , and the linear fitting equation is Y = −9.46X + 2.68.…”

“…Currently, pyrolysis technology can be divided into liquefaction, gasification, microwave pyrolysis, catalytic pyrolysis, and co-pyrolysis [10]. Among them, some scholars have found that co-pyrolysis technology can make full use of the advantages of various raw materials to achieve hydrogen transfer under ambient pressure without high-pressure hydrogenation [11].…”

Preparation and Performance of Carbon-Based Ce-Mn Catalysts for Efficient Degradation of Acetone at Low Temperatures

“…Common catalyst carriers include mesoporous aluminum silicates, graphene, zeolite molecular sieves (ZMS), biomass-activated carbon, and natural minerals [ 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 ]. Carbon-based carriers have attracted much attention because of their advantages of developed pore structures, large specific surface area, and low price in recent years [ 33 , 34 , 35 ]. To prepare carbon-based carriers with a developed pore structure and good dispersibility of active components have become new research focuses [ 36 , 37 ].…”