A novel waste-to-energy system based on sludge hydrothermal treatment and medical waste plasma gasification and integrated with the waste heat recovery of a cement plant

Sarengaowa Li, Heng Chen, Yue Gao, Lanxin Fan, Peiyuan Pan and Gang Xu

Energy, 2024, vol. 305, issue C

Abstract: A hybrid design solution is proposed to improve the waste-to-energy process by hydrothermal treatment of sludge and plasma gasification of medical waste and combining it with waste heat recovery from a cement plant. In this integrated system, the cement kiln exhaust is fed into the SP and AQC, and the resulting steam is fed into a steam turbine and generates electricity. Thus, cement kiln exhaust gas can generate electricity through the steam cycle. At the same time, sewage sludge is hydrothermally treated to produce hydrochar in the cement kiln, which is used as part of the fuel. Medical waste is used as feedstock for the plasma gasification process. The syngas produce power from a gas turbine. The hybrid design was analyzed using energy, exergy, and economic analysis. The hybrid design achieves 84.03 % energy efficiency, up to 80.29 % exergy efficiency, and up to 26.61 % net electrical energy efficiency in the energy utilization. The proposed hybrid project has a dynamic payback period of 2.64 years and achieves a net present value of 477,165.22k$ over a 25-year lifetime. The article discusses the impact of sewage sludge water content and sewage sludge treatment allowance on the performance and economics of the hybrid system.

Keywords: Sewage sludge; Medical waste; Cement plant; Hydrothermal treatment; Plasma gasification (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)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:305:y:2024:i:c:s0360544224021327

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2024.132358

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