Title:
Gasification of Biomass and Plastic Waste from the Disassembly of Public Lighting Luminaires for Energy Valorization. Case Study of Circular Economy Applied to the Alentejo Region in Portugal
Author(s):
Hermoso-Orzáez, M.J., Mota-Panizio, R., Carmo-Calado, L., Brito, P.
Document(s):
Paper
Abstract:
Urban waste management and recovery are a social demand and, in some way, a measure of the energy and environmental sustainability of cities and regions. To a large extent it is the responsibility of all and in particular of the City Councils as managers of urban waste generated by citizens. In particular, waste of electrical origin, luminaires, cables, bulbs are in the hands of specialized managers who seek to use them by valuing them or recovering them energetically. The plastic fraction of these wastes is really significant and allows their gasification mixed with biomass residues, for the production of synthesis gas. This paper studies the possibilities of energy recovery by thermal conversion of plastic waste from the disassembly of street lighting luminaires by mixing said plastic waste in different proportions with Biomass from crop residues (Olive), as raw material to apply energy recovery processes by gasification. Taking into account the difficulties of using these wastes in isolation, gasification tests were carried out with pine and olive biomass chips, to evaluate the characteristics of these wastes as a fuel for thermochemical processes. Co-gasification tests were performed in a downstream fixed bed reactor, at temperatures of approximately 700 ° C. The results obtained demonstrate the applied viability of the technology, with the ideal conditions for the production of LHV synthesis gas plus high (more than 5 MJ / Nm3) that are produced in mixtures with 10% and 20% of plastic waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). It was concluded that gasification is a perfectly adjusted technology for the recovery of plastic waste from dismantled obsolete luminaires, with a high index of plastic material, being able to transform them into a fuel for the recovery of energy derived from waste without other use. This study was complemented with the financial and environmental economic analysis. Using it as a case study for the potential of luminaire residues from the technological reconversion to LED that is planned to be carried out on a large scale in the Alentejo Region (Portugal), as a circular economy solution, through the recovery and valorization of biomass and industrial waste.
Keywords:
biomass, co-gasification, gasification, syngas, waste management, downdraft, techno-economic analysis, circular economy, urban waste, plastic, WEEE, environment analysis
Topic:
Biomass Technologies and Conversion for Bioenergy
Subtopic:
Gasification for synthesis gas production
Event:
28th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition
Session:
2CV.3.16
Pages:
422 - 433
ISBN:
978-88-89407-20-2
Paper DOI:
10.5071/28thEUBCE2020-2CV.3.16
Price:
FREE
