Gasification and Reduction Behavior of Plastics and Iron Ore Mixtures by Microwave Heating

Abstract

Effective utilization of waste materials is a key issue for environmental protection. In this work, fundamental research on co-generation of H₂ and metallic iron from plastics and iron ore powder mixtures by microwave heating was carried out. Thermal decomposition behaviors of plastics powders, the effects of plastics type and their blending composition on the H₂, CH₄, CO, CO₂ generation from the samples were studied.
As the results, about 57–88% of hydrogen contained in the samples were recovered in forms of H₂ and CH₄. Concentration of generated gas was able to control by changing the blending composition of plastics and iron ore powders mixtures. Under the condition of C/O=2, about 88% of hydrogen in the sample was recovered in forms of H₂ and CH₄, and hydrogen did not contribute to the reduction of iron ore, apparently.