Analyses for Synthesis Gas from Municipal Solid Waste Gasification under Medium Temperatures

Abstract

Municipal solid waste (MSW) gasification could be a novel method that shows the various advantages over traditional MSW treatments in China. Other research concluded that MSW gasification was operating by the assistant heat, and the gasification may occur under medium temperature. So, this study is aimed to investigate MSW gasification and pyrolysis behavior and analyze the syngas evolution and reaction mechanism. The MSW samples were collected in daily life and the experiments were carried out in a fixed tubular reactor below 650 °C. The effects of medium temperature and oxygen content on syngas quality were elucidated in depth. The results have shown that temperature can promote the syngas quality in the range of 550–650 °C, because the increasing temperature strengthens the reaction rate. The oxygen content should be controlled in a certain range, or oxidation reactions will be more prominent during gasification. The optimal gasification condition in this study was obtained at 650 °C and an oxygen concentration of 1.25%, the combustible gas yield and the lower heating value (LHV) of syngas of this condition were 0.296 L/g and 10.98 kJ/L, respectively. This study provides insights for MSW gasification under medium temperature, and a practical gasification system can be designed under a certain condition.