Evaluation of the clean characteristics and combustion behavior of hydrochar derived from food waste towards solid biofuel production

Tengfei Wang; Yunbo Zhai; Yun Zhu; Xiaoping Gan; Lei Zheng; Chuan Peng; Bei Wang; Caiting Li; Guangming Zeng

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2018.06.093

Evaluation of the clean characteristics and combustion behavior of hydrochar derived from food waste towards solid biofuel production

Bioresour Technol. 2018 Oct:266:275-283. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2018.06.093. Epub 2018 Jun 30.

Authors

Tengfei Wang¹, Yunbo Zhai², Yun Zhu³, Xiaoping Gan⁴, Lei Zheng⁴, Chuan Peng¹, Bei Wang¹, Caiting Li¹, Guangming Zeng¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, PR China; Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, PR China.
² College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, PR China; Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, PR China. Electronic address: ybzhai@hnu.edu.cn.
³ Shenzhen Institutes of Hunan University, Shenzhen 518000, PR China; Office of Scientific R & D, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, PR China.
⁴ Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, PR China.

PMID: 29982048
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2018.06.093

Abstract

This study investigated the clean properties and combustion behavior of hydrochar from food waste (FW). The hydrochar was characterized by proximate analysis and HHVs, and the chemical forms were investigated by FTIR, XPS (Sulfur), and XANES (Chlorine). TG-FTIR was used to assess the combustion behaviors, and XRF was used to assess the fouling and slagging inclinations. Results showed that increasing temperature from 180 °C to 260 °C enhanced the removal of N, S, and Cl for hydrochar. Especially, aromatic-S and sulfate-S increased in contrast to sulfoxide-S, and more inorganic-S was produced in hydrochar; all samples had mainly inorganic-chlorine. Additionally, the release of HCl, SO₂, and NO of hydrochar combustion were significantly reduced and the SI and FI index decreased to ranges of 0.18-0.16 and 0.32-0.17, respectively. However, hydrochar produced at temperature above 220 °C led increased NO emission possibly due to formation of more pyridine-N and quaternary-N.

Keywords: Food waste; Fuel; Hydrochar; TG-FTIR; XPS.

MeSH terms

Biofuels*
Carbon
Food*
Solid Waste*
Temperature

Substances

Biofuels
Solid Waste
Carbon