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Energy and exergy optimization of food waste pretreatment and incineration

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Abstract

With the aim of upgrading current food waste (FW) management strategy, a novel FW hydrothermal pretreatment and air-drying incineration system is proposed and optimized from an energy and exergy perspective. Parameters considered include the extracted steam quality, the final moisture content of dehydrated FW, and the reactor thermal efficiency. Results show that optimal working condition can be obtained when the temperature and pressure of extracted steam are 159 °C and 0.17 MPa, the final moisture content of dehydrated FW is 10%, and the reactor thermal efficiency is 90%. Under such circumstance, the optimal steam energy and exergy increments reach 194.92 and 324.50 kJ/kg-FW, respectively. The novel system is then applied under the local conditions of Hangzhou, China. Results show that approximately 2.7 or 11.6% (from energy or exergy analysis perspective) of electricity can be additionally generated from 1 ton of MSW if the proposed novel FW system is implemented. Besides, comparisons between energy and exergy analysis are also discussed.

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Acknowledgements

This project is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51676170) and the Program of Introducing Talents of Discipline to University (B08026).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Clean Energy Utilization, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    Yuanjun Tang, Jun Dong, Yong Chi, Zhaozhi Zhou & Mingjiang Ni

  2. Université de Toulouse, Mines Albi, UMR CNRS 5302, Centre RAPSODEE, Campus Jarlard, Albi Cedex 09, France

    Yuanjun Tang & Jun Dong

Authors
  1. Yuanjun Tang
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  2. Jun Dong
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  3. Yong Chi
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  4. Zhaozhi Zhou
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  5. Mingjiang Ni
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yong Chi.

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Responsible editor: Bingcai Pan

Highlights

• A novel FW hydrothermal pretreatment system is proposed.

• Energy and exergy are analyzed and compared to optimize thermodynamic efficiency.

• Extracted steam quality, final moisture content, and reactor thermal efficiency are varied.

• A case study is performed with regard to local conditions of Hangzhou, China

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Tang, Y., Dong, J., Chi, Y. et al. Energy and exergy optimization of food waste pretreatment and incineration. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 18434–18443 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9396-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9396-4

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