The intermediate pyrolysis of de-inking sludge to produce a sustainable liquid fuel

Abstract

De-inking sludge is a waste product generated from secondary fibre paper mills who manufacture recycled paper into new paper sheets; it refers directly to the solid residues which evolve during the de-inking stage of the paper pulping process. The current practice for the disposal of this waste is either by land-spreading, land-filling or incineration which are unsustainable. This work has explored the intermediate pyrolysis of pre-conditioned de-inking sludge pellets in a recently patented 20 kg/h intermediate pyrolysis reactor (The Pyroformer). The reactor is essentially two co-axial screws which are configured in such a way as to circulate solids within the reactor and thus facilitate in the cracking of tars. The potential application of using the volatile organic vapours and permanent gases evolved would be to generate both combined heat and power (CHP) located at paper making sites. The results show that de-inking sludge could be successfully pyrolysed and the organic vapours produced were composed of a mixture of aromatic hydrocarbons, phenolic compounds and some fatty acid methyl esters as detected by liquid GC-MS. The calorific value of the oil after condensing was between 36 and 37 MJ/kg and the liquid fuel properties were also determined, permanent gases were detected by a GC-TCD and were composed of approximately 24% CO, 6% CH and 70% CO (v/v%). The solid residue from pyrolysis also contained a small residual calorific value, and was largely composed of mainly calcium based inert metal oxides. The application of applying intermediate pyrolysis to de-inking sludge for both CHP production and waste reduction is in principle a feasible technology which could be applied at secondary fibre paper mills.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaap.2013.04.007
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > School of Infrastructure and Sustainable Engineering > Chemical Engineering & Applied Chemistry
College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute (EBRI)
Additional Information: NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of analytical and applied pyrolysis. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in uadi, M, Brammer, JG, Yang, Y, Hornung, A & Kay, M, 'The intermediate pyrolysis of de-inking sludge to produce a sustainable liquid fuel' Journal of analytical and applied pyrolysis, vol. 102 (2013) DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaap.2013.04.007 Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC), Aylesford Newsprint, Smurfit Kappa (SSK) and Kimberly–Clark Flint The authors would like to thank the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC).
Uncontrolled Keywords: pyrolysis,energy,de-inking sludge,waste
Publication ISSN: 1873-250X
Last Modified: 08 Feb 2024 08:05
Date Deposited: 15 Sep 2014 19:08
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
PURE Output Type: Article
Published Date: 2013-07
Authors: Ouadi, M.
Brammer, J.G. (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-0487-515X)
Yang, Yang (ORCID Profile 0000-0003-2075-3803)
Hornung, A.
Kay, Martin

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