Thermal behavior and kinetics of municipal solid waste during pyrolysis and combustion process

The thermal behavior of municipal solid waste (MSW) in south China during pyrolysis and combustion processes was investigated via thermogravimetric analysis. In order to investigate the effect of metal oxides in the grate ash, the pyrolysis and combustion experiments were carried out with and without additives (ZnO, Fe2O3, CuO and Al2O3). Different artificial atmospheres (O2: N2 = 1:9, O2: N2 = 3:7, O2: N2 = 5:5, O2: N2 = 7:3) were adopted to investigate the oxygen-enriched combustion characteristics. Results showed that all additives facilitated the decomposition of MSW, while the CuO prohibited the decomposition of biowaste matter. The same effort was applied on the combustion process. All additives had a catalytic effect on ignition and combustion characteristics of MSW, except for biowaste volatile combustion of MSW with CuO. The oxygen-enriched combustion conditions reduced the ignition temperature of MSW and provided more help to the combustion process of MSW. Based on several compositions parallel reaction mechanism, the kinetic parameters were obtained and confirmed that both some additives and high oxygen concentration improved MSW combustion characteristics.