Packaging waste thermal treatment and pyro-products characterization for power conversion

The current paper represents an updated study of the Authors past research on packaging waste pyrolysis coming from selective collection of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) stream. The final goal of this comprehensive study is to determine the optimal polyolefins and cellulosic packaging waste mixture pyrolysis parameters for engineering purpose development in conventional Waste to Energy (WtE) plants. Over the research, a series of experiments were made on cellulosic and polymer packaging waste fractions for physico-chemical characterization. The mass and energy outputs of paper, cardboard and plastic waste mixtures were experimental determinate using a lab-scale pyrolysis batch reactor. In addition to the study, in this paper the heat required by the pyrolysis reactions is also presented. The isothermal pyro-analysis of the waste mixtures reveals that materials with the slowest kinetic reaction impose the residence time during the process. The main devolatilization stage of lignocellulosic materials occurred at lower temperatures in comparison with polymers. During the pyrolysis process it was observe that the agglutination grade increases in presence of polyolefin products. More than 85% of carbon from the sample was recovered as char, condensate liquid or gas. The amounts of polymeric materials presence in waste mixture will double the calorific value of both char and tar. For industrial scale plants, the risk of the plastic melted stick to the mobile parts of the installation grows. The energy carrier products can be integrated in cycle turbines, reciprocating engines or utilized offsite in other thermal processes as fuel support.