Abstract
The scarcity of economically-viable crude oil has prompted chemical corporations to look for alternative sources of carbon and hydrogen to produce chemicals, biologics and other products. Biomass and waste matter are considered one of the foremost raw materials to develop all of these industries. Canada produces a tremendous amount of waste: 25 million tons (an average of 0.8 ton per capita), of which only 25 % is diverted (Statistics Canada 2008). The remaining 17 million tons per year is either incinerated or landfilled. This volume of waste is seen as an interesting biomass deposit and constitutes an opportunity to source alternative fuels and chemicals. The development and operation of centralized large scale pyrolysis plants to process domestic waste face several problems, which originate mainly from the wide-ranging composition of the feedstock. Also, these installations require a minimum volume of waste to be operational and cost effective, which leads to the costly collection and transportation of waste over long distances. Finally, process scale-up is extremely complex as the operation of large-scale pyrolysis units is subject to serious operational issues. To address these problems, a distributed pyrolysis strategy is proposed, which involves the deployment of small scale reactors at the waste production site for on-site processing. This approach reduces significantly the cost of waste transportation and collection and offers alternative ways of valorizing the biogas, bio-oil, and char. This presentation will discuss the cost benefits of a distributed strategy, the implementation strategy as well as the pyrolysis of common elements found in a garbage bag.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Islam, M.N., Ani, F.N.: Techno-economics of rice husk pyrolysis, conversion with catalytic treatment to produce liquid fuel. Bioresour. Technol. 73, 67–75 (2000)
Wright, M.M., Daugaard, D.E., Satrio, J.A., Brown, R.C.: Techno-economic analysis of biomass fast pyrolysis to transportation fuels. Fuel 89(2010): S2–S10
Andersson, M., Knutson Wedel, M., Forsgren, C., Christéen, J.: Microwave assisted pyrolysis of residual fractions of waste electrical and electronics equipment. Miner. Eng. 29, 105–111 (2012)
Manganaro, J. et al.: Conversion of residual biomass into liquid transportation fuel: an energy analysis. Energy Fuels, 2011: 2711–2720
Martineau, G., et Julie-Anne Chayer. Évaluation et comparaison des technologies et des scénarios de gestion des matières résiduelles applicables à la CMM selon une approche de cycle de vie. Montréal, 2007
Jones, SB, et al.: Production of Gasoline and Diesel from Biomass via Fast Pyrolysis, Hydrotreating and Hydrocracking: A design Case. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 2009
Wright, M.M., Satrio, J.A., Brown, R.C., Daugaard, D.E., Hsu, D.D.: Techno-economic analysis of biomass fast pyrolysis to transportation fuels. Golden, Colorado: National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), 2010
Bu, Q., Lei, H., Ren, S., Wang, L., Holladay, J., Zhang, Q., Tang, J., Ruan, R.: Phenol and phenolics from lignocellulosic biomass by catalytic microwave pyrolysis. Bioresour. Technol. 102, 7004–7007 (2011)
Bu, Q., Lei, H., Ren, S., Wang, L., Zhang, Q., Tang, J., Ruan, R.: Production of phenols and biofuels by catalytic microwave pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass. Bioresour. Technol. 108, 274–279 (2012)
Du, J., Liu, P., Liu, Z.-H., Sun, D.-G., Tao, C.-Y.: Fast pyrolysis of biomass for bio-oil with ionic liquid and microwave irradiation. J. Fuel Chem. Technol. 38, 554–559 (2010)
Du, Z., Li, Y., Wang, X., Wan, Y., Chen, Q., Wang, C., Lin, X., Liu, Y., Chen, P., Ruan, R.: Microwave-assisted pyrolysis of microalgae for biofuel production. Bioresour. Technol. 102, 4890–4896 (2011)
Fernández, Y., Arenillas, A., Bermúdez, J.M., Menéndez, J.A.: Comparative study of conventional and microwave-assisted pyrolysis, steam and dry reforming of glycerol for syngas production, using a carbonaceous catalyst. J. Anal. Appl. Pyrol. 88, 155–159 (2010)
Fernández, Y., Menéndez, J.A.: Influence of feed characteristics on the microwave-assisted pyrolysis used to produce syngas from biomass wastes. J. Anal. Appl. Pyrol. 91, 316–322 (2011)
Hu, Z., Ma, X., Chen, C.: A study on experimental characteristic of microwave-assisted pyrolysis of microalgae. Bioresour. Technol. 107, 487–493 (2012)
Huang, Y.F., Kuan, W.H., Lo, S.L., Lin, C.F.: Hydrogen-rich fuel gas from rice straw via microwave-induced pyrolysis. Bioresour. Technol. 101, 1968–1973 (2010)
Hussain, Z., Khan, K.M., Perveen, S., Hussain, K., Voelter, W.: The conversion of waste polystyrene into useful hydrocarbons by microwave-metal interaction pyrolysis. Fuel Process. Technol. 94, 145–150 (2012)
Jiang, J., Ma, X.Q.: Experimental research of microwave pyrolysis about paper mill sludge. Appl. Therm. Eng. 31, 3897–3903 (2011)
Lam, S.S., Russell, A.D., Lee, C.L., Chase, H.A.: Microwave-heated pyrolysis of waste automotive engine oil: influence of operation parameters on the yield, composition, and fuel properties of pyrolysis oil. Fuel 92, 327–339 (2012)
Lam, S., Shiung, A.D., Russell, C.L., Lee, S., Lam, K., Chase, H.A.: Production of hydrogen and light hydrocarbons as a potential gaseous fuel from microwave-heated pyrolysis of waste automotive engine oil. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 37, 5011–5021 (2012)
Omar, Rozita., Idris, A., Yunus, R., Khalid, K., Aida Isma, M.I.: Characterization of empty fruit bunch for microwave-assisted pyrolysis. Fuel 90, 1536–1544 (2011)
Salema, A.A., Ani, F.N.: Microwave induced pyrolysis of oil palm biomass. Bioresour. Technol. 102, 3388–3395 (2011)
Tian, Y., Zuo, W., Ren, Z., Chen, D.: Estimation of a novel method to produce bio-oil from sewage sludge by microwave pyrolysis with the consideration of efficiency and safety. Bioresour. Technol. 102, 2053–2061 (2011)
Zuo, W., Tian, Y., Ren, N.: The important role of microwave receptors in bio-fuel production by microwave-induced pyrolysis of sewage sludge. Waste Manag. 31, 1321–1326 (2011)
Luque, R., Menendez, J.A., Arenillas, A., Cot, J.: Microwave-assisted pyrolysis of biomass feedstocks: the way forward? Energy Environ. Sci. 5, 5481–5488 (2012)
Cascadia Consulting Group. Targeted Statewide Waste Characterization Study: Waste Disposal and Diversion Findings for Selected Industry Groups. California Environmental Protection Agency: Integrated Waste Management Board, 2006
Kupiainen, L., Ahola, J., Tanskanen, J.: Kinetics of glucose decomposition in formic acid. Chem. Eng. Res. Des. 89, 2706–2713 (2011)
Mante, O.D., Agblevor, F.A.: Storage stability of biocrude oils from fast pyrolysis of poultry litter. Waste Manag. X:(XX–XX) (2011)
Patwardhan, P.R., Satrio, J.A., Brown, R.C., Shanks, B.H.: Product distribution from fast pyrolysis of glucose-based carbohydrates. J. Anal. Appl. Pyrol. 86, 323–330 (2009)
Shen, D., Xiao, R., Gu, S., Luo, K.: The pyrolytic behavior of cellulose in lignocellulosic biomass: a review. RSC Adv. 1, 1641–1660 (2011)
Amigun, B., Gorgens, J., Knoetze, H.: Biomethanol production from gasification of non-woody plant in South Africa: optimum scale and economic performance. Energy Policy 38, 312–322 (2010)
Acknowledgments
This research was financed under a contract funded by Kengtek Engineering Services. The team wishes to thank Cedric Motte for his experimental contribution. We also thank Jean Xavier Morin for his valuable comments by reviewing this manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Doucet, J., Laviolette, JP., Farag, S. et al. Distributed Microwave Pyrolysis of Domestic Waste. Waste Biomass Valor 5, 1–10 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-013-9216-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-013-9216-0