Conversion of Solid Waste to Combustible Gases Using Non-stoichiometric Model for Plasma Pyrolysis Process

Abstract

Energy crisis is one of the major concerns worldwide. Energy generation from solid waste is one of the most viable options due to the rise in generation of waste. Plasma pyrolysis is the emerging solution for the conversion of solid waste to energy. It converts carbonaceous solid waste to combustible gases in the near-absence of oxygen. It is a sustainable technology as it reduces harmful gas generation and produces clean energy without any considerable adverse effects on the environment. An equilibrium model has been developed to predict gas composition from solid waste using the plasma pyrolysis process in Aspen plus^®. This non-stoichiometric model is developed with thermodynamic data using the minimization of Gibbs free energy. RYIELD and RGIBBS operations are used for yield distribution and equilibrium conversion, respectively. In this work, Polypropylene (PP) and Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) are chosen as feedstock. The composition of feed is taken from the available literature. Results of the model are compared to literature data for validation. From this model, H₂, CO, CO₂, and other gases generation from RDF is 14.88%, 66.33%, 15.56%, and 3.23%, respectively. The same from the literature are 13.8%, 65.5%, 14.2%, and 6.5%, respectively. The results show good comparability with the available literature. Moreover, from the sensitivity analysis, the effect of temperature is analyzed, which shows that with an increase in temperature, hydrogen production also increases. For different categories of solid wastes, the derived model can be used for the optimization of the process with different parameters.