Effects of calcium carbonate on pyrolysis of sewage sludge

Eilhann E. Kwon, Taewoo Lee, Yong Sik Ok, Daniel C.W. Tsang, Chanhyuk Park, Jechan Lee

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

150 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study demonstrates that calcium carbonate (CaCO3) allows not only enhancement of the production of CO as syngas, but also reduction of the content of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the pyrolytic products from sewage sludge. CO2 was formed by the decomposition of CaCO3 in pyrolysis. The CO2 derived from CaCO3 enhanced thermal cracking of volatile organic carbons (VOCs) generated during the pyrolysis of sewage sludge and provided an additional source of C and O, likely enhancing the production of CO at >650 °C. In addition, more solid product was converted into gaseous and liquid products by the addition of CaCO3 in the pyrolysis of sewage sludge. This work suggests that CaCO3 can be used as an inexpensive source of CO2 that increases thermal efficiency of the pyrolysis process and reduces the evolution of harmful chemical species such as PAHs during thermal treatment of the byproduct during processing at municipal and industrial wastewater treatment facilities (i.e., sewage sludge).

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)726-731
Number of pages6
JournalEnergy
Volume153
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Jun 2018

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) Grant funded by the Korean Government (the Ministry of Education) (No. NRF-2016R1D1A1B03933027 ).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd

Keywords

  • CaCO
  • Pyrolysis
  • Sewage sludge
  • Thermal treatment
  • Waste-to-energy

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