Low-temperature pyrolysis of municipal solid waste: influence of pyrolysis temperature on the characteristics of solid fuel

Abstract

This paper presents the results of pyrolysis experiments of the mixtures of nine different combustibles municipal solid wastes (MSW's main composition: rice 24.33% and fruits 14.60%). The experiments were carried out in a laboratory-scale reactor under nitrogen atmosphere at temperature of 300–700°C. The study concentrates on low-temperature pyrolysis of MSWs and the effect of the pyrolysis temperature on the characteristics of the products (solid fuels) including proximate analysis, volatile content, heating value, ignition temperature and density of the solid fuel. The results indicate that the pyrolysis temperature plays an important role on the characteristics of the solid fuels. The volatile content of the solid fuels decreases with the pyrolysis temperature so that the low-pyrolysis MSW treating process has advantage for higher heating value of the solid fuel for energy recovery purpose. The heating value is in the range of 23–27 MJ kg−1, equivalent to the heating value of low-rank coals. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.