Gasification characteristics and synergistic effects of typical organic solid wastes under CO2/steam atmospheres

Gasification technology is an effective way to achieve efficient, safe, and resourceful disposal of organic solid wastes (OSWs). Due to the complex sources and variable components of the OSWs, the co-disposal is highly essential. Various typical OSWs, including food waste (cooked rice, CR), agricultural waste (rice husk, RH; sugarcane bagasse, SB), and industrial waste (furfural residue, FR), were selected for this study. The gasification characteristics and synergistic performance were examined in terms of thermal weight loss characteristics under the CO2 atmosphere and gaseous product characteristics under the steam atmosphere. The synergistic indices of performance parameters were introduced to quantify the synergistic effects. The gasification activity of FR was remarkably higher than that of other OSWs. In the co-gasification with CR under the CO2 atmosphere, FR played an excellent positive synergistic effect, but the agricultural wastes played a slight or no synergistic effect. In the steam co-gasification, RH, SB, and FR all promoted the generation of syngas, in which FR showed still significant synergistic effects, with the synergistic indices of H2 yield, syngas yield, CCE, and CGE being 4-12 times higher than those of other blended wastes. The excellent performance of FR in (co-)gasification was mainly attributed to the acidic properties of FR, which was confirmed by comparing the (co-)gasification performance of FR with and without water-washing pretreatment. The work provides guidance for the co-disposal of OSWs in industrial applications.

Automated summary

Gasification technology is an effective method for disposing organic solid wastes (OSWs) in an efficient and resourceful way. The co-disposal of OSWs is highly essential due to their complex sources and variable components. In this study, various typical OSWs were selected and their gasification characteristics and synergistic performance were examined. The results showed that furfural residue (FR) had significantly higher gasification activity compared to other OSWs. In co-gasification with cooked rice (CR) under a CO2 atmosphere, FR exhibited a positive synergistic effect, while agricultural wastes showed slight or no synergistic effect. In steam co-gasification, rice husk (RH), sugarcane bagasse (SB), and FR all promoted the generation of syngas, with FR showing significant synergistic effects. The excellent performance of FR in (co-)gasification can be attributed to its acidic properties, as confirmed by comparing its performance with and without water-washing pretreatment. This work provides guidance for the industrial co-disposal of OSWs.