Laboratory-Scale Performance of Pyrolysis of Unsegregated Municipal Solid Waste

The thermal treatment of the waste converts the carbon in the waste to an energy source. The pyrolysis of the unsegregated municipal solid waste (MSW) and its components is conducted in two different laboratory-scale setups: a tubular and a fluidized bed reactor. The effect of slow and fast pyrolysis and co-pyrolysis of MSW components on the yields, composition, and stability of end products is reported in this paper. Fast pyrolysis improves the oil yield, but it also increases the PAH pollutant formation in the presence of plastic. The pyrolysis of the plastic component is found to be the most sensitive to the heating rate. Among the binary mixtures, the co-pyrolysis of the biomass and rubber mixture is most sensitive to the heating rate. This binary mixture improves the stability of pyrolysis oil, while binary mixtures of plastic are observed to have reduced stability of oil under slow pyrolysis conditions. Pyrolysis of a representative MSW sample yields 49 and 61% (w/w) of pyrolysis oil during slow and fast pyrolysis, respectively. This pyrolysis oil has improved stability than the oil from pyrolysis of individual components.