Production of Biochar by Pyrolysis of Food Waste Blends for Negative Carbon Dioxide Emission

Zsolt Dobó, Helga Kovács and Gábor Nagy ()
Additional contact information
Zsolt Dobó: Institute of Energy, Ceramics and Polymer Technology, University of Miskolc, Egyetemváros, 3515 Miskolc, Hungary
Helga Kovács: Institute of Energy, Ceramics and Polymer Technology, University of Miskolc, Egyetemváros, 3515 Miskolc, Hungary
Gábor Nagy: Institute of Energy, Ceramics and Polymer Technology, University of Miskolc, Egyetemváros, 3515 Miskolc, Hungary

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: A negative carbon emission scenario via pyrolysis of three different food waste blends was investigated. A tube reactor was utilized for pyrolysis runs at temperatures of 650 °C, 725 °C, and 900 °C, while the carbon inventory was prepared. The blend of rice and french fries resulted in the highest char yield, being 212 g/kg at 650 °C pyrolysis temperature. In this case, each kg of food waste can correspond to 536 g of captured or removed CO 2 from the air. The blend of roast pork and breaded chicken showed significantly less carbon removal potential of 348 g CO2 /kg sample measured at 650 °C pyrolysis temperature, compared to rice and French fries. A higher pyrolysis temperature resulted in lower char yields, but, on the other side, it resulted in a higher carbon content of char. Additionally, higher pyrolysis temperature resulted in lower carbon capture potential within the temperature range utilized in this study. The heating value of dry pyrolysis gas was between 12.0–16.6 MJ/Nm 3 and 10.3–12.3 MJ/Nm 3 during the heat-up and constant temperature period, respectively. Based on the results, negative CO 2 emission can be reached via pyrolysis of food waste with the benefit of capturing carbon in solid form, and therefore, this method can be considered a promising and alternative method to treat food waste.

Keywords: food waste; pyrolysis; negative CO 2 emission (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: 2025
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/1/144/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/1/144/ (text/html)

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:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:1:p:144-:d:1558691

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().