Gasification of Waste Cooking Oil to Syngas by Thermal Arc Plasma

Andrius Tamošiūnas, Dovilė Gimžauskaitė, Mindaugas Aikas, Rolandas Uscila, Marius Praspaliauskas and Justas Eimontas
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Andrius Tamošiūnas: Plasma Processing Laboratory, Lithuanian Energy Institute, Breslaujos str. 3, LT-44403 Kaunas, Lithuania
Dovilė Gimžauskaitė: Plasma Processing Laboratory, Lithuanian Energy Institute, Breslaujos str. 3, LT-44403 Kaunas, Lithuania
Mindaugas Aikas: Plasma Processing Laboratory, Lithuanian Energy Institute, Breslaujos str. 3, LT-44403 Kaunas, Lithuania
Rolandas Uscila: Plasma Processing Laboratory, Lithuanian Energy Institute, Breslaujos str. 3, LT-44403 Kaunas, Lithuania
Marius Praspaliauskas: Laboratory of Heat Equipment Research and Testing, Lithuanian Energy Institute, Breslaujos str. 3, LT-44403 Kaunas, Lithuania
Justas Eimontas: Laboratory of Combustion Processes, Lithuanian Energy Institute, Breslaujos str. 3, LT-44403 Kaunas, Lithuania

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 13, 1-13

Abstract: The depletion and usage of fossil fuels causes environmental issues and alternative fuels and technologies are urgently required. Therefore, thermal arc water vapor plasma for a fast and robust waste/biomass treatment is an alternative to the syngas method. Waste cooking oil (WCO) can be used as an alternative potential feedstock for syngas production. The goal of this experimental study was to conduct experiments gasifying waste cooking oil to syngas. The WCO was characterized in order to examine its properties and composition in the conversion process. The WCO gasification system was quantified in terms of the produced gas concentration, the H 2 /CO ratio, the lower heating value (LHV), the carbon conversion efficiency (CCE), the energy conversion efficiency (ECE), the specific energy requirements (SER), and the tar content in the syngas. The best gasification process efficiency was obtained at the gasifying agent-to-feedstock (S/WCO) ratio of 2.33. At this ratio, the highest concentration of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, the H 2 /CO ratio, the LHV, the CCE, the ECE, the SER, and the tar content were 47.9%, 22.42%, 2.14, 12.7 MJ/Nm 3 , 41.3% 85.42%, 196.2 kJ/mol (or 1.8 kWh/kg), and 0.18 g/Nm 3 , respectively. As a general conclusion, it can be stated that the thermal arc-plasma method used in this study can be effectively used for waste cooking oil gasification to high quality syngas with a rather low content of tars.

Keywords: waste cooking oil; gasification; thermal arc plasma; water vapor; syngas (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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