Utilization of Plastic Waste to Solve the Problem in High-Moisture Biomass Gasification

Abstract

Abstract-With an increased interest in energy production from biomass through gasification, the properties of biomass that influenced gasification performance have been investigated. One of important properties is the moisture content. Generally, the excessive moisture in biomass is reduced to meet the acceptable level for gasification by an additional pretreatment process which always costs extra investment. One possible alternative is the co-processing of high-moisture biomass fuels with other low-moisture fuels. In this study, the utilization of plastic waste to solve the problem of high-moisture biomass gasification was investigated by mixing the high-moisture rubber woodchip (27%M.C.) with plastic waste at various mixing ratios. The results showed a significant improvement of gasification performance. Even at 10% mixing ratio, the higher heating value of the product gas increased by about 50% and 25% compared to the case of high-moisture rubber woodchip (27%M.C.) and pre-dried rubber woodchip (8.5%M.C.), respectively. Compared to mixing with rubber waste at the same weight ratio, the plastic waste addition was found to give a better gasification improvement largely due to the higher carbon and hydrogen content in plastic waste. The findings from this study have shown not only that the high-moisture biomass can be used without pretreatment needed, but also an effective solution to plastic waste disposal.