Sub-Pilot-Scale Autocatalytic Pyrolysis of Wastewater Biosolids for Enhanced Energy Recovery

Improving onsite energy generation and recovering value-added products are common goals for sustainable used water reclamation. A new process called autocatalytic pyrolysis was developed at bench scale in our previous work by using biochar produced from the biosolids pyrolysis process itself as the...

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Main Authors: Zhongzhe Liu, Simcha Singer, Daniel Zitomer, Patrick McNamara
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2018-11-01
Series:Catalysts
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/8/11/524
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spelling doaj-5f322878040b47ab98d8585f4451e53a2020-11-24T22:40:08ZengMDPI AGCatalysts2073-43442018-11-0181152410.3390/catal8110524catal8110524Sub-Pilot-Scale Autocatalytic Pyrolysis of Wastewater Biosolids for Enhanced Energy RecoveryZhongzhe Liu0Simcha Singer1Daniel Zitomer2Patrick McNamara3Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI 53233, USADepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI 53233, USADepartment of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI 53233, USADepartment of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI 53233, USAImproving onsite energy generation and recovering value-added products are common goals for sustainable used water reclamation. A new process called autocatalytic pyrolysis was developed at bench scale in our previous work by using biochar produced from the biosolids pyrolysis process itself as the catalyst to enhance energy recovery from wastewater biosolids. The large-scale investigation of this process was used to increase the technical readiness level. A sub-pilot-scale catalytic pyrolytic system was constructed for this scaled-up study. The effects of configuration changes in both pyrolytic and catalytic reactors were investigated as well as the effect of vapor-catalyst contact types (i.e., downstream, in-situ) on product yield and quality. The sub-pilot-scale test with downstream catalysis resulted in higher py-gas yields and lower bio-oil yields when compared to results from a previous batch, bench-scale process. In particular, the py-gas yields increased 2.5-fold and the energy contained in the py-gas approximately quadrupled compared to the control test without autocatalysis. Biochar addition to the feed biosolids before pyrolysis (in-situ catalysis) resulted in increased py-gas production, but the increase was limited. It was expected that using a higher input pyrolyzer with a better mixing condition would further improve the py-gas yield.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/8/11/524wastewater sludgebio-oiltar crackingpy-gasbiocharauger reactorcatalystin-situ catalysisdownstream catalysis
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Zhongzhe Liu
Simcha Singer
Daniel Zitomer
Patrick McNamara
spellingShingle Zhongzhe Liu
Simcha Singer
Daniel Zitomer
Patrick McNamara
Sub-Pilot-Scale Autocatalytic Pyrolysis of Wastewater Biosolids for Enhanced Energy Recovery
Catalysts
wastewater sludge
bio-oil
tar cracking
py-gas
biochar
auger reactor
catalyst
in-situ catalysis
downstream catalysis
author_facet Zhongzhe Liu
Simcha Singer
Daniel Zitomer
Patrick McNamara
author_sort Zhongzhe Liu
title Sub-Pilot-Scale Autocatalytic Pyrolysis of Wastewater Biosolids for Enhanced Energy Recovery
title_short Sub-Pilot-Scale Autocatalytic Pyrolysis of Wastewater Biosolids for Enhanced Energy Recovery
title_full Sub-Pilot-Scale Autocatalytic Pyrolysis of Wastewater Biosolids for Enhanced Energy Recovery
title_fullStr Sub-Pilot-Scale Autocatalytic Pyrolysis of Wastewater Biosolids for Enhanced Energy Recovery
title_full_unstemmed Sub-Pilot-Scale Autocatalytic Pyrolysis of Wastewater Biosolids for Enhanced Energy Recovery
title_sort sub-pilot-scale autocatalytic pyrolysis of wastewater biosolids for enhanced energy recovery
publisher MDPI AG
series Catalysts
issn 2073-4344
publishDate 2018-11-01
description Improving onsite energy generation and recovering value-added products are common goals for sustainable used water reclamation. A new process called autocatalytic pyrolysis was developed at bench scale in our previous work by using biochar produced from the biosolids pyrolysis process itself as the catalyst to enhance energy recovery from wastewater biosolids. The large-scale investigation of this process was used to increase the technical readiness level. A sub-pilot-scale catalytic pyrolytic system was constructed for this scaled-up study. The effects of configuration changes in both pyrolytic and catalytic reactors were investigated as well as the effect of vapor-catalyst contact types (i.e., downstream, in-situ) on product yield and quality. The sub-pilot-scale test with downstream catalysis resulted in higher py-gas yields and lower bio-oil yields when compared to results from a previous batch, bench-scale process. In particular, the py-gas yields increased 2.5-fold and the energy contained in the py-gas approximately quadrupled compared to the control test without autocatalysis. Biochar addition to the feed biosolids before pyrolysis (in-situ catalysis) resulted in increased py-gas production, but the increase was limited. It was expected that using a higher input pyrolyzer with a better mixing condition would further improve the py-gas yield.
topic wastewater sludge
bio-oil
tar cracking
py-gas
biochar
auger reactor
catalyst
in-situ catalysis
downstream catalysis
url https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4344/8/11/524
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AT simchasinger subpilotscaleautocatalyticpyrolysisofwastewaterbiosolidsforenhancedenergyrecovery
AT danielzitomer subpilotscaleautocatalyticpyrolysisofwastewaterbiosolidsforenhancedenergyrecovery
AT patrickmcnamara subpilotscaleautocatalyticpyrolysisofwastewaterbiosolidsforenhancedenergyrecovery
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