GASIFICATION OF COAL AND BIOMASS WASTE FUEL BRIQUETTES FOR SYNGAS PRODUCTION

Abstract

Currently, municipal solid waste and waste from coal and agricultural industries constitute a significant part of the fuel and energy balance in many countries worldwide, despite the enormous consumption of oil and gas. Coal is primarily used as an energy, chemical, and technological raw material in various industrial sectors. This natural resource represents a unique material with tremendous potential for processing. Despite the widespread availability of carbon-containing raw materials and biomass, the environmental risk associated with their use as fuel is very high, primarily due to the increased emission of harmful substances into the atmosphere during combustion.

However, it is known that environmental impact from carbon-containing waste can be significantly reduced by using upgraded, synthetic gaseous or liquid fuels obtained through chemical processing. The properties of products derived from carbon-containing waste also depend on the raw materials used in the technological processing. Many wastes are characterized by low carbon content and weak structural integrity, which limits the applicability of solid products from such wastes compared to high-rank coals. Low-rank wastes include coal slurry, some bituminous coals (grades D and G), and municipal solid waste. A distinguishing feature of these wastes is their high volatile matter content (V_daf > 40%). Each year, increasingly stringent requirements are imposed on the utilization of carbon-containing wastes, and many countries have already introduced restrictions on their landfilling. Consequently, there is a growing societal demand for high-quality waste processing technologies. One promising solution is the thermal conversion of low-rank coals, municipal, and agricultural wastes into high-calorific fuel with low volatile matter content – a potential substitute for expensive and scarce coal grades.