Energy, exergy and economic analysis of a poly-generation system combining sludge pyrolysis and medical waste plasma gasification

Sarengaowa Li, Heng Chen, Xin Yuan, Peiyuan Pan, Gang Xu, Xiuyan Wang and Lining Wu

Energy, 2024, vol. 295, issue C

Abstract: To optimize the processes of treating medical waste and pyrolyzing sludge, we propose a new integrated system that combines plasma gasification for medical waste treatment, combined cycle power generation, and sludge pyrolysis. The medical waste is first incinerated, and then the synthesis gas from plasma gasification powers a gas turbine to generate electricity in this integrated system. The gas turbine's exhaust gas heats steam and feedwater from the HRSG to achieve a combined gas-steam cycle. Simultaneously, turbine exhaust steam energizes sludge pyrolysis, allowing for efficient conversion of medical waste into electricity in an eco-friendly manner. A hybrid design study was conducted using different methods, including energy, exergy, and economic analysis. The study revealed that the medical waste-to-energy system integration has the potential to attain 66.31% energy efficiency and 66.70% exergy efficiency. Moreover, the medical waste-electricity project has a dynamic payback period of 2.46 years and a relative net present value of 38,949.91k$. These outcomes suggest that this innovative concept is practical, advantageous, and has excellent potential for further development in the field of waste-to-energy conversion.

Keywords: Medical waste; Plasma gasification; Sludge pyrolysis; System integration; Performance assessment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544224005784
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:295:y:2024:i:c:s0360544224005784

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2024.130806

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().