Thermal pretreatment of municipal solid waste

Abstract: A kinetic study of the pyrolysis of municipal solid waste (MSW) was carried out bythermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Different runs were performed at heating rates of 5, 10and 150C/min. The effect of the N2, CO2 and O2 gas with different combination in theprocess was also evaluated. The results show that the most weight loss was obtained whenthe MSW was treated at a temperature interval of (20-750)0C which led to a weigh loss of95%. The kinetic study of the pyrolysis process showed also the gas mixture used in theprocess effect also the activation energy of the process and the presence of the CO2 in theincreased the activation energy (Ea) to 56 kJ/mol. Higher concentration of CO2 in the processlead to increase in the activation energy which is not optimal for the reaction. The treated andthe untreated samples were incubated and the biological activity was observed. The resultsshow that the pretreated samples did not have any biological activity. From these results itcould be concluded that the thermal pretreatment could be an alternative way for of waste forlong period of time, which could have significant impact in i.e. for transportation anddurability during storage.