Research Articles published by Journal of Energy Technologies and Policy Vol.4, No.5, 2014
A study of energy recovery from municipal solid waste was undertaken. The energy content of the solid waste is
12MJ/kg. The elemental composition shows that the municipal solid waste contains 50% and 5% of carbon and
hydrogen respectively. The energy flow (exothermic and endothermic) and thermal degradation analysis were
carried out using differential scanning calorimetry and thermo-gravimetric analyser respectively. Experiments
were performed at heating rate of 10 K/min, 20 K/min, 30 K/min and 40 K/min in the nitrogen atmosphere at
temperature between room temperature and 1273 K. The thermal degradation kinetic parameters values of
activation energy (E
) ranged from 205.9 to 260.6kJ/mol. It has been observed that municipal solid waste is less
reactive to combustion as compared to coal and biomass, but its reactivity can be improved through pre-treating
process so as to reduce noncombustible materials such as oxygen and ash content. Also pyrolysis and
gasification can be used to convert MSW to liquid or gaseous fuel.
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