2001 Volume 27 Issue 1 Pages 34-41
We conducted gasification tests for municipal waste plastic recycling by using a 2 ton/day entrained partial combustion plant, and show that the recovery gases are applicable for fuel for a gas turbine. The properties of recovery gases and their dependency on the operational conditions, feed rate of plastics and applied oxygen ratio, are clarified. We also developed a mathematical model to simulate the chemical process in the entrainment gasifier, assuming that the gas and particulate solids are in one-dimensional steady state flow and flammable volatiles from the waste plastics can be characterized just by ethylene in pyrolysis process. We show that the constituents of the recovery gases can be predicted in fairly close relation with those from the results of gasification test. The rateconstants related to pyrolysis and char gasificationreactions were determined by previous thermogravimetric studies and the rate constants for the reaction between volatile and CO2 and/or H2O are determined by a data fitting with the results of gasification tests.
