SIMULATION TOOLS FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF ADVANCED THERMAL TREATMENT OF MSW – GASIFICATION CODE

Abstract

The landfill near downtown Brasilia was shut down some years ago. The site was estimated to have near 19,000,000 tons of mixed waste materials. Strategic studies are being carried out for the energetic utilization of the stored recoverable energy. Advanced conversions technologies for municipal solid waste are based on either, pyrolysis or gasification. In this work we present a novel thermochemical equilibrium model for the gasification of MSW. In most instances the producer gas has to be cleaned for particle matter and tar extraction before end-use application. We thus proposed a two-step conversion pathway in which carbonization of MSW is performed in a stand-alone equipment followed by gasification of the derived charcoal for low tar producer gas. A thermal equilibrium code was developed and applied to investigate MSW-char gasification performance parameters for heat and power generation. Code predictions confirmed the improved quality of the syngas when MSW-char is used as the feedstock. Low temperature steam gasification of the derived charcoal further increased the quality of the syngas for Fisher-Tropsch synthesis and heat engine applications by virtue of its high content of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. An integrated char gasification power engine cycle would produce 7,1 MW of heat and power from the gasification of 9.2 metric tons per hour of MSW-char.