Experimental and kinetic modeling of oxygen-enriched air combustion of municipal solid waste

The characteristics of oxygen-enriched air combustion of raw municipal solid waste (MSW) were studied by thermogravimetric analysis. Experiments on oxidative pyrolysis of MSW were carried out under different atmospheres (N2, N2:O2 = 7:3, N2:O2 = 5:5, N2:O2 = 4:6, and N2:O2 = 2:8) at 30 °C/min. Two distinct peaks of weight loss were obtained according to the derivative thermogravimetric curves; one of them is centered on 305 °C with about 40% weight loss, and the second is centered on 420 °C with about 20% weight loss. Effects of oxygen concentration on the decomposition process and char combustion were analyzed, and then the process of oxygen-enriched air combustion of MSW was divided into four steps. Kinetic parameters were observed by direct non-linear regressions. According to the obtained data, the apparent activation energy and reaction order decreases along with the combustion process, while that of char combustion increases as oxygen concentration increases.