Medical Peat Waste Upcycling to Carbonized Solid Fuel in the Torrefaction Process

Kacper Świechowski, Małgorzata Leśniak and Andrzej Białowiec
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Kacper Świechowski: Department of Applied Bioeconomy, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, 37a Chełmońskiego Str., 51-630 Wrocław, Poland
Małgorzata Leśniak: Department of Applied Bioeconomy, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, 37a Chełmońskiego Str., 51-630 Wrocław, Poland
Andrzej Białowiec: Department of Applied Bioeconomy, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, 37a Chełmońskiego Str., 51-630 Wrocław, Poland

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-20

Abstract: Peat is the main type of peloid used in Polish cosmetic/healing spa facilities. Depending on treatment and origin, peat waste can be contaminated microbiologically, and as a result, it must be incinerated in medical waste incineration plants without energy recovery (local law). Such a situation leads to peat waste management costs increase. Therefore, in this work, we checked the possibility of peat waste upcycling to carbonized solid fuel (CSF) using torrefaction. Torrefaction is a thermal treatment process that removes microbiological contamination and improves the fuel properties of peat waste. In this work, the torrefaction conditions (temperature and time) on CSF quality were tested. Parallelly, peat decomposition kinetics using TGA and torrefaction kinetics with lifetime prediction using macro-TGA were determined. Furthermore, torrefaction theoretical mass and energy balance were determined. The results were compared with reference material (wood), and as a result, obtained data can be used to adjust currently used wood torrefaction technologies for peat torrefaction. The results show that torrefaction improves the high heating value of peat waste from 19.0 to 21.3 MJ × kg −1 , peat main decomposition takes place at 200–550 °C following second reaction order ( n = 2), with an activation energy of 33.34 kJ × mol −1 , and pre-exponential factor of 4.40 × 10 −1 s −1 . Moreover, differential scanning calorimetry analysis revealed that peat torrefaction required slightly more energy than wood torrefaction, and macro-TGA showed that peat torrefaction has lower torrefaction constant reaction rates (k) than wood 1.05 × 10 −5 –3.15 × 10 −5 vs. 1.43 × 10 −5 –7.25 × 10 −5 s −1 .

Keywords: peloids; waste to energy; waste to carbon; circular economy; torrefied biomass; kinetics lifetime prediction; mass balance; energy balance; fuel properties (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: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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