Waste Management 23 (2003) 115 www.elsevier.

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Energy from gasication of solid wastes

Abstract Gasication technology is by no means new: in the 1850s, most of the city of London was illuminated by town gas produced from the gasication of coal. Nowadays, gasication is the main technology for biomass conversion to energy and an attractive alternative for the thermal treatment of solid waste. The number of dierent uses of gas shows the exibility of gasication and therefore allows it to be integrated with several industrial processes, as well as power generation systems. The use of a wastebiomass energy production system in a rural community is very interesting too. This paper describes the current state of gasication technology, energy recovery systems, pre-treatments and prospective in syngas use with particular attention to the dierent process cycles and environmental impacts of solid wastes gasication. # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Today, the world demand for renewable energy sources is the key factor in the revival of the use of gasication systems, which was in strong decline after the advent of petroleum (Cuzzola et al., 2000). Gasication systems are successfully applied to the production of energy from biomass. They also represent an attractive alternative to the well-established thermal treatment systems for the recovery of energy from solid wastes. Gasication is particularly suitable to treat industrial wastes but there are some problems with municipal solid wastes related to their heterogeneity. In this paper, the relative complexity of technology needed for feasible gasication process cycles is discussed with particular reference to the dierent reactors, energy recovery systems and gas clean up systems. The aim of this paper is not to determine or to demonstrate whether gasication is the best process for the thermal treatment of solid wastes or not. The concept of best is valid solely in the context of local values, limits and problems, such as characteristics of waste, environmental regulation or communities
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-0-89-964100; fax: +39-0-89964100. E-mail address: [email protected] (G. De Feo).

dimension. Nevertheless modern incineration is de-facto the standard for comparison of the gasication performance (Juniper, 2000). 1.1. Gasication Combustion, gasication and pyrolysis are the thermal conversion processes available for the thermal treatment of solid wastes. As shown in Fig. 1, dierent products are gained from the application of these processes and dierent energy and matter recovery systems can be used to treat these. Gasication can be broadly dened as the thermochemical conversion of a solid or liquid carbon-based material (feedstock) into a combustible gaseous product (combustible gas) by the supply of a gasication agent (another gaseous compound). The thermochemical conversion changes the chemical structure of the biomass by means of high temperature. The gasication agent allows the feedstock to be quickly converted into gas by means of dierent heterogeneous reactions (Di Blasi, 2000; Hauserman et al., 1997; Barducci, 1992; Baykara and Bilgen, 1981). The combustible gas contains CO2, CO, H2, CH4, H2O, trace amounts of higher hydrocarbons, inert gases present in the gasication agent, various contaminants such as small char particles, ash and tars (Bridgwater, 1994a).

0956-053X/02/$ - see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0956-053X(02)00149-6

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Fig. 1. Thermal conversion process and products (Bridgwater, 1994a).

Direct gasication occurs when an oxidant gasication agent is used to partially oxidise the feedstock. The oxidation reactions supply the energy to keep the temperature of the process up. If the process does not occur with an oxidising agent, it is called indirect gasication and needs an external energy source (Figs. 2 and 3) (Hauserman et al., 1997; Staniewski, 1995). Steam is the most commonly used indirect gasication agent, because it is easily produced and increases the hydrogen content of the combustible gas (Hauserman et al., 1997). Pyrolysis is an indirect gasication process with inert gases as the gasication agent. As shown in Fig. 2, resulting from the gasication process and varying with the temperature at which the process is carried out, the three major output fractions are (De Feo et al., 2000):

1. a combustible gas; 2. a liquid fraction (tars and oils); and 3. a char, consisting of almost pure carbon plus inert material originally present in the feedstock. As shown in Table 1, the heating value of the gas is signicantly aected by the presence of nitrogen. Due to the absence of nitrogen in the gasication agent, the indirect gasication process increases the volumetric eciency and produces a gas with a higher heating value (De Feo et al., 2000; Paisley, 1998). The lowering of gas production rate, typical of indirect gasication, reduces the cost of energy recovery and gas cleanup systems but is still complex and increases investment costs (Hauserman et al., 1997).

Fig. 2. Gasication and pyrolysis processes.

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Fig. 3. Direct and indirect gasication processes.

Table 1 Gasication processes Process Gasication agent Air Oxygen Steam Producer gas heating value (MJ/Nm3) 47 1012 1520

an extensive pre-treatment is required (refuse derived fuel) (Fig. 4). Instead there are several types of waste that are directly suitable for the process; they are: paper mills waste, mixed plastic waste, forest industry waste and agricultural residues (Juniper, 2000).

Direct gasication Pure oxygen gasication Indirect gasication

3. Gasiers The gasier is the reactor in which the conversion of a feedstock into fuel gas takes place. There are three fundamental types of gasier: (1) xed bed, (2) uidised bed and (3) indirect gasier. In Table 2, the main advantages of the dierent type of gasiers are summarised. Pressurised reactors, not discussed in this paper, are only suitable for coal and oil gasication.

Direct gasication with pure oxygen has the same advantages as the indirect gasication process. However, the cost of oxygen production is estimated to be more than 20% of the overall electricity production (Della Rocca, 2001). Typically, a gasication system is made up of three fundamental elements: (1) the gasier, useful to produce the combustible gas; (2) the gas cleanup system, necessary to remove harmful compounds from the combustible gas; (3) the energy recovery system. The system is completed with suitable sub-systems useful to control environmental impacts (air pollution, solid wastes production, wastewater).

2. Solid waste and biomass For a correct and ecient gasication process, a sufciently homogeneous carbon-based material is required. Therefore many kinds of waste cannot be treated in the gasication process and for certain types

Fig. 4. Wastes suitable for gasication.

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Table 2 Comparison of dierent gasier [modied by (Juniper, 2000; Bridgwater, 1994 a)] Characteristicsa Fixed bed Updraft Carbon conversion Thermal eciency CGE Turndown ratio Start-up facility Management facility Control facility Scale-up potential Sized feed elasticity Moisture feed elasticity Ash feed elasticity Fluy feed elasticity Sintering safety Mixing Cost safety Tar content Particulate content LHV
a

Fluidised bed Downdraft **** **** *** ** * **** ** * * ** * ** * * **** ***** *** * Bubbling ** *** *** **** *** ** **** *** ** *** **** * *** **** ** ** *** * Circulating **** **** **** **** *** ** **** ***** ** *** **** *** ***** ***** ** *** ** **

Indirect gasier Char ***** *** *** **** ***** * ***** *** ** * *** *** ***** ***** * ** ** ***** Gas ** *** *** **** ***** * ***** *** ** * **** * *** **** * ** **** *****

**** ***** ***** *** * **** ** *** **** **** * **** * * ***** * ***** *

* poor, ** fair, *** good, **** very good, ***** excellent.

A key factor of the reactor is the capacity to produce a gas with low tar content (condensable bituminous compounds). A high tar concentration causes a lot of problems to energy recovery systems because of its corrosive characteristics. 3.1. Fixed bed Vertical xed bed reactors (VFB) are the most competitive xed bed gasiers. As shown in Fig. 5, they are subdivided into updraft and downdraft gasiers. Updraft is a counter-current gasier, where the feedstock is loaded from the top while air is introduced from the bottom of the reactor. In the reactor the solid material is converted into combustible gas during its downward path (Quaak et al., 1999; Bridgwater, 1994a). Feedstock is treated in the following sequence starting from the top: drying, pyrolysis, reduction and combustion (Juniper, 2000; Quaak et al., 1999; Hauserman et al., 1997; Bridgwater, 1994a). In the combustion zone, the highest temperature of the reactor is greater than 1200  C. As a consequence of the updraft conguration, the tar coming from the pyrolysis zone is carried upward by the owing hot gas: the result is the production of a gas with a high tar content. Typically, the sensible heat of gas is recovered by means of a direct heat exchange with feedstock (Bridgwater, 1994a). In a downdraft reactor, co-current, the carbonaceous material is fed in from the top, the air is introduced at the sides above the grate while the combustible gas is withdrawn under the grate (Juniper, 2000; Quaak et al., 1999; Hauserman et al., 1997; Bridgwater, 1994a). As a consequence of the downdraft conguration, pyrolysis

vapours allow an eective tar thermal cracking. However, the internal heat exchange is not as ecient as in the updraft gasier (Quaak et al., 1999; Bridgwater, 1994a). 3.2. Fluidised bed Fluidisation is the term applied to the process whereby a xed bed of ne solids, typically silica sand, is transformed into a liquid-like state by contact with an upward owing gas (gasication agent) (Juniper, 2000). Fluidised bed gasication was originally developed to solve the operational problems of xed bed gasication related to feedstocks with a high ash content and, principally, to increase the eciency (Quaak et al., 1999). The eciency of a uidised bed gasier is about ve times that of a xed bed, with a value around 2000 kg/(m2 h) (Quaak et al., 1999; Bingyan et al., 1994). Fluidised bed reactors are gasier types without different reaction zones. They have an isothermal bed operating at temperatures usually around 700900  C, lower than maximum xed bed gasiers temperatures. The bubbling uidised bed (BFB) and circulating uidised bed (CFB) gasiers are schematically presented in Fig. 6. In a BFB reactor, the velocity of the upward owing gasication agent is around 13 m/s and the expansion of the inert bed regards only the lower part of the gasier. Bed sand and char do not come out of the reactor because of the low velocity (CITEC, 2000; Ghezzi, 2000; Quaak et al., 1999). The velocity of the upward owing gasication agent in a CFB reactor is around 510 m/s (CITEC, 2000;

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Fig. 5. Fixed bed gasiers (Quaak et al., 1999).

Fig. 6. Fluidised bed gasiers.

Ghezzi, 2000). Consequently, the expanded bed occupies the entire reactor and a fraction of sand and char is carried out of the reactor together with the gas stream (De Feo et al., 2000). This fraction is captured and recycled in the reactor using an air cyclone that intercepts the gas stream (Niessen et al., 1996).

3.3. Indirect gasier Indirect gasiers are the reactors used for the steam indirect gasication and are grouped as char indirect gasiers and gas indirect gasiers depending on the type of internal energy source (Fig. 7).

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Fig. 7. Indirect gasiers.

A char indirect gasier consists of two separate reactors: a CFB steam gasier that converts feedstock into produced gas and a CFB combustor that burns residual char to provide the necessary heat to gasify the feedstock. Sand is circulated between the two reactors to transfer heat. Energy is provided by combustion of residual char, reserving all gaseous and condensable products for gas production (Hauserman et al., 1997; Craig et al., 1995; Staniewski, 1995). This process is also called fast uidised process because it has the highest throughputs and yields of gas (Farris et al., 1998; Hauserman et al., 1997; Niessen et al., 1996; Staniewski, 1995). Gas indirect gasiers use a steam uidised bed gasier within bed heat exchange tubes (Hauserman et al., 1997; Niessen et al., 1996). A fraction of combustible gas is burned with air in a pulse combustor and the hot combustion products provide heat to gasify the feed (Hauserman et al., 1997; Niessen et al., 1996; Staniewski, 1995). Gas indirect gasication is extremely versatile with a wide range of feeds (Hauserman et al., 1997). The main advantage of indirect gasication is the high quality of the combustible gas produced in contrast with greater investment and maintenance cost of the reactor. Therefore it is necessary to improve the quality of gas with the adoption of a highly ecient energy recovery system.

4. Energy recovery systems (ERS) 4.1. Steam cycle The steam cycle is the simplest option for energy recovery. It does not need gas pre-treatment, because tar is burned in the combustor and cannot damage the

boiler (Quaak et al., 1999). The maximum net electrical eciency of a gasicationsteam cycle plant is about 23%, which is comparable with the eciency of a typical solid waste incinerator (Consonni, 2000). A limitation in the traditional waste incineration and the gasicationsteam cycle boiler is the maximum metal temperature of the superheater tubes, normally limited to less than 450  C to prevent excessive corrosion of the tubes by the HCl that may be present in the ue gas. This limitation results in a lower steam temperature to the steam turbine and thus a low overall plant electrical eciency (Rensfelt and Everard, 1998). In a gasicationsteam cycle plant, this limitation could be overcome by gas pre-treatment or by integration with a thermoelectric power plant (Della Rocca, 2001). Pre-treatment of the gas can remove the HCl before it goes into the burner, thus the ring of the clean gas in a modern boiler combination would allow a steam temperature of 520  C, with a 6% improvement in electrical eciency (Rensfelt and Everard, 1998). The integration with conventional power plants is called co-ring: it allows to increase the performance taking advantage of the high eciency steam cycle of the thermoelectric power plant. Usually a co-ring system is performed in two possible congurations (Consonni, 2000; Nieminen et al., 1999): adopting a gas burner in a separate boiler only for the water evaporation phase, as shown in Fig. 8, or adopting a gas burner in the same boiler as the primary fuel, as shown in Fig. 9. 4.2. Engine Spark ignition engines, normally used with petrol or kerosene, can be run on gas alone. Diesel engines can be converted to full gas operation by lowering the com-

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Fig. 8. A possible conguration of coring system with two dierent boilers.

Fig. 9. A possible conguration of coring system with one boiler.

pression ratio and by installing a spark ignition system (Quaak et al., 1999; FAO, 1993). Because of the low lower heating value (LHV), engines converted to gas are less ecient than those not converted; nevertheless a modern engine correctly modied can reach over 25% of net electricity output (FAO, 1993). The engines have the advantage of being robust and having a higher tolerance to contaminants than gas turbines (Bridgwater, 1994a). Nevertheless if the gas is compressed into a turbocharger the same condition as in the gas turbine will result (Bridgwater, 1994a; FAO, 1993).

The main disadvantages of gas engines are the low increase in eciency obtained using the combined-cycle mode and the poor economy of scale (Bridgwater, 1994a). 4.3. Gas turbine The power plants based on advanced combined cycle gas turbine could allow an eciency-rate of around 60% (Najjar, 1999). The eective net electrical output is lower than 40% because of the consumption for gas pre-treatment (De Lange and Barducci, 2000; Van Ree et al.,

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Table 3 Contaminant presence in the gas and relative problems Contaminant Particulates Presence Derive from ash, char, condensing compounds and bed material for the uidised bed reactor Alkali metals compounds, specially sodium and potassium, exist in vapour phase Problems Cause erosion of metallic components and environmental pollution Alkali metals cause high-temperature corrosion of metal, because of the stripping o of their protective oxide layer NOx pollution

Alkali metals

Fuel-bound nitrogen

Cause potential emissions problems by forming NOx during combustion Usual sulphur and chlorine content of biomass and waste is not considered to be a problem It is bituminous oil constituted by a complex mixture of oxygenated hydrocarbons existing in vapour phase in the producer gas, it is dicult to remove by simple condensation

Sulphur and chlorine

Could cause dangerous pollutants and acid corrosion of metals Clog lters and valves and produce metallic corrosion

Tar

1997). In fact gas turbines are very sensitive to the quality of gas, only extremely low levels of contaminants, principally tar, alkali metals, sulphur and chlorine compounds, can be tolerated (Bridgwater, 1994a). The chemical recovery cycle is a new and very interesting option. In this case, the energy content in the turbine exhaust gas is used to feed the pre-treatment process of gas, such as catalytic cracking of tar or steam reforming process (Della Rocca, 2001; Happenstall, 1998). Typical gas turbines must be adapted to the low LHV: for an easier start-up phase, the burners must allow dual fuel operation and longer combustion chambers are necessary to improve the control of CO emissions (Zanforlin, 1995; Becker and Schetter, 1992).

design of pre-treatment systems principally depends on the energy recovery technologies in use (Quaak et al., 1999; Bridgwater, 1994a). In Table 3, gas properties related to pre-treatments are briey described. While the required gas properties for dierent energy recovery systems are given in Table 4. Finally, Table 5 shows issues and cleanup processes related to ue gas contaminants. 6.1. Thermal cracking Biomass and waste-derived tars are very stable and refractory to cracking by thermal treatment (Depner and Jess, 1999; Bridgwater, 1994b). Temperatures required are around 10001300  C (Depner and Jess, 1999; Quaak et al., 1999; Bridgwater, 1994a). Two competitive dierent approaches are used in xed bed gasiers to obtain thermal cracking: use of temperatures of hearth zone and/or increase of gas residence time. Some advanced applications of modied downdraft gasiers with internal recycle of gas, proposed for the automotive gasier application, can obtain a tar level lower than 50 mg/Nm3 (Susanto and Beerackers, 1996).

5. Future alternative use of syngas Future alternative uses of syngas include molten carbonate fuel cells and methanol production. Molten carbonate fuel cells are very interesting because of the high eciency-rate (more than 50%) and the easy integration with dierent energy recovery systems (Iacobazzi, 1995). Methanol, well known as a clean fuel, can be synthesised by a gas containing H2, CO and CO2 using a copper catalyser (Jung, 1999; Nowell et al., 1999). Methanol production by conversion of a homogeneous waste could be an interesting alternative.

Table 4 Gas quality requirements/energy recovery system Boiler Engine Coring None None None None >4 <550 <0.5 <12 >4 <57 <0.10.5 <0.21 Gas turbine

6. Pre-treatment of gas Pre-treatments of gas can be used to avoid environmental pollution and dangerous components, such as tar and particulate, for the energy recovery system or to increase heating value and hydrogen contents. The
LHV (MJ/Nm3) Particulate (mg/Nm3) Tars (g/Nm3) Alkali metals (ppm)

Stand alone >4 None None None

V. Belgiorno et al. / Waste Management 23 (2003) 115 Table 5 Fuel gas contaminants: problems and cleanup processes Contaminant Particulate (g/Nm3) Alkali metals (g/Nm3) Fuel nitrogen (g/Nm3) Tars (g/Nm3) Sulphur, chlorine (g/Nm3) Range 370 1.53.0 10100 2.53.5 Examples Ash, char, uid bed material Sodium and potassium compounds Mainly NH3 and HCN Refractory aromatics H2S, HCl Problems Erosion, emission Hot corrosion NOx formation Clog lters, deposit internally Corrosion, emission Cleanup method

Filtration, scrubbing Condensation and ltration Scrubbing, SCR Tar cracking, scrubbing Lime scrubbing

6.2. Catalytic cracking Catalytic processes for the conversion of tars need reaction temperatures of around 800900  C. Tar removal eciency is 9095% and dolomite is an eective and inexpensive tar cracking catalyst (Rensfelt and Everard, 1998; Delgado et al., 1996; Orio et al., 1996; Bridgwater, 1994b; Mudge et al., 1987). Dolomite demand is around 0.03 Kg/Nm3 of raw gas (De Lange and Barducci, 2000; Rensfelt and Everard, 1998).
Table 6 Advantages and disadvantages of tar removal systems System Thermal cracking Catalytic cracking Advantages Simple control Low cost LHV unchanged Upgrade too No gas cooled Easy control Air pollution control Disadvantages LHV losses Low eciency Catalyzer cost Dicult control LHV losses Gas cooled Wastewater production

The process can be carried out both in a uidised bed gasier with catalysts added to the bed or in a special reactor below the gasier (Bridgwater, 1994b; Mudge et al., 1987). The rst solution uses the temperature of the reactor but the catalyst life is not very long. With a secondary reactor, the catalyst is protected by deactivators but requires added oxygen to oxidise gas and increase the temperature. Fig. 10 shows catalytic processes in gasication systems. 6.3. Steam reforming and CO-shift Shift and reverse methanation reactions allow an increase of up to 10% of the gas volume of hydrogen content by conversion of methane and steam (Aznar et al., 1998; Caballero et al., 1997). A commercial catalyst is used for steam reforming and for CO shift; catalysts are activated at a low temperature. Steam reforming and CO-shift need a preliminary abatement of tar because catalysts are easily deactivated when the tar content is greater than 2 g/Nm3 (Aznar et al., 1998).

Scrubber

Fig. 10. Catalytic processes in gasication systems (Bridgwater, 1994b).

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6.4. Scrubber or saturator Modied scrubbers called saturators are adopted as a tar control system (Larson, 2000). A saturator has two separate towers. In the rst tower the gas is saturated by water droplets at a temperature of 4080  C (Quaak et al., 1999; Bridgwater, 1994a). Temperature and water saturation allow tar condensation on the droplet (Larson, 2000; Cernuschi, 2000). In the second tower a scrubbing process eliminates suspended droplets and condensed tar. A humidied packed bed is usually applied to increase the contact surface between gas and wash water (Quaak et al., 1999; Cernuschi, 2000). In Table 6, the main advantages and disadvantages of tar removal systems are described. 6.5. Baghouse A baghouse is a very eective and proven technology that allows the removal of particulate matter larger than 0.1 mm with an eciency-rate of around 99% (Conti and Lombardi, 2000; Urbini, 2000). 6.6. Alkali condenser Alkali metals condense at 550  C on the particulate. Consequently if the gas reaches 550  C and is treated by a baghouse, alkali metals are removed with the particulate (Quaak et al., 1999; Craig et al., 1995).

energy recovery requirements. In the following paragraphs four dierent process cycles adopted in dierent situations are presented. 7.1. Gasication/steam cycle, stand-alone conguration This eective and reliable conguration can be easily integrated with industrial processes for onsite use of heating and electricity and for the recycling of gasier inert residues (SAFI, 1995). Gas is burned directly to give heat at a stand-alone steam cycle. Absence of a cleanup system simplies the process and reduces the plant cost, nevertheless an air pollution control system may be necessary to meet emission limits (SAFI, 1995; Barducci, 1992). The overall electricity output is around 20% and it can be increased by 6% if an acid gas control systems is adopted (De Feo et al., 2000; Rensfelt and Everard, 1998). Fig. 11 shows a synthetic scheme of TPS installation ` in Greve in Chianti (Italy). 7.2. Gasication/steam cycle, co-ring conguration A co-ring plant uses gas to give energy to a steam cycle power generation plant. Gas can be used in the same fuel boiler or in a secondary one which produces steam, later superheated in the rst boiler (Figs. 8 and 9). Eciency of this process cycle can allow an electrical output of over 30%. In the rst conguration acid gases are diluted, whereas in the secondary boiler the temperature of the steam tubes remains below 180  C and corrosive action is not eective (Della Rocca et al., 2001; Consonni, 2000). Moreover, a co-ring plant allows the use of high moisture content feedstock because of the superheated temperatures, which do not depend on the heating value of the combustible gas (Consonni, 2000; Nieminen et al., 1999). Fig. 12 shows a scheme of an installation in Lahti (Finland). 7.3. Gasication/engine The gasication of coal and carbon containing fuels and the use of gas as fuel in internal combustion engines is a technology that has been utilised for more than a century (FAO, 1993). The main innovation for waste and biomass gasication/engine process are cleanup systems used for removing dust, tar, and alkali metals from the raw gas (Quaak et al., 1999). Experience leads to a use of a modied downdraft gasier for tar thermal cracking and a hot gas lter for dust removal. Electrical eciency is around 25%, because of the low heating value of gas (Bridgwater, 1994a; FAO, 1993).

7. Process cycles Several elements of a gasication system can be combined to follow both the wastes characteristics and

` Fig. 11. TPS gasication plant in Greve in Chianti (Italy) (De Feo et al., 2000).

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Fig. 12. Foster Wheeler gasication plant in Lahti (Finland) (Nieminen et al., 1999).

Fig. 13. TPS/ARBRE gasication plant in Eggborough (UK) (Van Ree et al., 1997).

7.4. Integrate gasication combined cycle (IGCC) IGCC could be competitive in a few years (Larson, 2000). An IGCC plant uses a clean gas in a gas turbine combined cycle to produce energy. Net electrical output

is over 30% and can increase up to 40% if total thermal power is over 50 MW (Morris and Waldheim, 1998). The main disadvantage of this plant is the need for a cleanup system for the control of corrosive gas phase compounds such as tar, acid gas and alkali metals (Quaak et al., 1999; Bridgwater, 1994a; Larson, 1992).

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Fig. 14. TEF gasication plant in Cascina (Italy) (De Lange and Barducci, 2000).

The most interesting element is the system of tar control through catalytic tar cracking or wet scrubbing. The rst solution is implemented in the Termiska Processer ARable Biomass Renewable Energy (TPS/ARBRE) installation in Eggborough (UK), as shown in Fig. 13. Fig. 14 shows the second solution as adopted in the Thermie Energy Farm (TEF) installation in Cascina (Italy).

emissions (SAFI, 1995; Staniewski, 1995; Tchobanoglous et al., 1993). 8.2. Solid waste production Solid waste production is related to char and ash extracted from the gasier, the particulate control equipment and the possible boiler, with a production of 29, 510 and 36% of treated feedstock, respectively (SAFI, 1995). Gasier residues could be used to fertilise the ground (rarely if the feedstock is not agricultural waste) or disposed in a sanitary landll. Instead, solid residues of gas pre-treatment and air pollution control systems are typically disposed in landlls, because of their high heavy metal concentration level. Sometimes, solid residues can be used in industrial processes, such as cement mills, for a complete integration between gasication and industrial processes (SAFI, 1995). 8.3. Wastewater In the gasication process, wastewater may be produced by the gas cooler and the wet scrubber containing many soluble and insoluble pollutants, such as acetic

8. Environmental impacts 8.1. Air pollution Atmospheric emissions of gasication systems depend on the installed air pollution control equipment and energy recovery systems in use. Therefore it is dicult to compare the air pollution impact of gasication systems with a conventional combustion process. However, the use of gas allows for a successful combustion control, better than solid combustion resulting in an eective reduction in the emission of CO, NOx, dioxins and unburned compounds (Giugliano, 2000; Tchobanoglous et al., 1993). Moreover gas pre-treatment can be performed to remove pollution precursors such as nitrogen and chlorine compounds and improve

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13

Fig. 15. Integrated waste management system.

acid, sulphur, phenols and other oxygenated organic compounds (Bridgwater, 1994a). The insoluble fraction of the wastewater consists mainly of tars. Wet scrubber euent production is around 0.5 kg/ Nm3 of treated gas (Barducci et al., 1997). If a scrubber is used for tar removal the euent needs expensive treatment, otherwise the usual problems are a low pH and a high salt content, which can be easily controlled by neutralisation and chemical precipitation, respectively (Cernuschi, 2000). In the gasication plant Thermie Energy Farm, one of the three IGCC projects selected for funding by the European Union, the sequence of treatment for tar-rich wastewater is (Barducci et al., 1997; Barducci and Neri, 1997): precipitation of sulphur by iron sulphate addition; recovery of sulphur and dust by ltering; disposal of lter cake; stripping o gases dissolved in the water and the major part of the hydrocarbons;  partial evaporation of water and usage of condensate as scrubber make-up;  discharge of evaporator blow down to conventional bio-treatment.     The salt recovered has a very low polluting potential, and is conveyed to a sanitary landll. Hydrocarbons

and other stripper gases are recycled in the combustor for destruction, so that the tar energy content is recovered (Barducci et al., 1997; Barducci and Neri, 1997). Because of the complexity of treatment and disposal, the present trend is to develop a system that does not produce a liquid euent (Bridgwater, 1994a), nevertheless this is possible only for wastes that do not contain many contaminant precursors.

9. Gasication and waste management Gasication represents a future alternative to the waste incinerator for the thermal treatment of homogeneous carbon-based waste and for pre-treated heterogeneous waste. As shown in Fig. 15, gasication should be considered as an option for the thermal treatment of wastes in an integrated waste management system. For example, co-ring and co-gasication (gasication of solid waste with coal or biomass in the same gasifyer) are interesting solutions for both decentralised energy systems and waste management systems in rural communities. It is dicult to compare the costs of gasication processes with conventional combustion on a direct basis. This is due to the fact that the costs available refer to dierent specications of plant, for example to meet dierent emission standards or have a varying ash content or water treatment requirements (Altmann and

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V. Belgiorno et al. / Waste Management 23 (2003) 115 Bridgwater, A.V., 1994a. Catalysis in thermal biomass conversion. Applied Catalysis A: General 116, 547. Bridgwater, A.V., 1994b. The technical and economic fasibility of biomass gasication for power generation. Fuel 74 (5), 631653. Caballero, M.A., Aznar, M.P., Gil, J., Martin, J.A., Frances, E., Corella, J., 1997. Commercial steam reforming catalysts to improve biomass gasication with steam-oxygen mixtures. 1. Hot gas upgrading by the catalytic reactor. Independed Engineering Chemical Resource 36, 52275239. Cernuschi, S., 2000. Processi e tecnologie per il controllo delle emissioni atmosferiche da impianti di termodistruzione di riuti. In: Fiftieth Environmental Sanitary Engineering Refresh Course, Politecnico di Milano. CIPA ed. CITEC, 2000. Le linee guida per la progettazione, la realizzazione e la gestione degli impianti a tecnologia complessa per lo smaltimento dei riuti urbani. SEP pollution 18 Salone internazionale servizi pubblici e antinquinamento. Consonni, S., 2000. Tecniche correnti ed avanzate per il recupero dellenergia. La termodistruzione del riuto urbano: recupero energetico ed emissioni. Ed. HYPER s.r.l. Conti, F., Lombardi, F., 2000. Tecnologie di trattamento dei fumi degli impianti di termodistruzione dei riuti solidi urbani (parte 2a). La termodistruzione del riuto urbano: recupero energetico ed emissioni. Ed. HYPER s.r.l. Craig, K.R., Bain, R.L., Overed, R.P., 1995. Biomass Power SystemsWhere are We Going, and How Do Get There? The Role of Gasication. EPRI Conference on New Power Generation Technology. Cuzzola, F.A., De Lange, H.J., De Marco, A., Papaleo, L., 2000. Control and Modelisation of Biomass-fuelled IGCC Plant. IFAC. De Feo, G., Belgiorno, V., Napoli, R.M.A., Papale, U., 2000. Solid Wastes Gasication. SIDISA International Symposium on Sanitary and Environmental Engineering. De Lange, H.J., Barducci, P., 2000. The realization of a biomass-fuelled IGCC plant in Italy. In: European Congress on Biomass TEF. Delgado, J., Aznar, M.P., Corella, J., 1996. Calcined dolomite, magnesite, and calcite for cleaning hot gas from a uidized bed biomass gasier with steam: life and usefulness. Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research 35 (10), 36373643. Della Rocca, C., 2001. I processi e le tecnologie di gassicazione delle biomasse e dei riuti solidi. Civil Engineering Degree Thesis, Uni` versita degli Studi di Salerno. Depner, H., Jess, A., 1999. Kinetics of nickel-catalyzed purication of tarry fuel gases from gasication and pyrolysis of solid fuel. Fuel 78, 13691377. Di Blasi, C., 2000. Dynamic behaviour of stratied downdraft gasier. Chemical Engineering Science 55, 29312944. FAO, 1993. Wood gas as engine fuel. FAO Forestry paper 72. FAO. Farris, M., Paisley, M.A., Irving, J., Overend, R.P., 1998. The Biomass Gasication Process by Battelle/FERCO: Design, Engineering, Construction, and Startup. 1998 Gasication Technology Conference. Ghezzi, U., 2000. Tecnologie correnti e avanzate per la termodistruzione dei riuti. La termodistruzione del riuto urbano: recupero energetico ed emissioni. Ed. HYPER s.r.l. Giugliano, M., 2000. Le emissioni atmosferiche da processi di termodistruzione dei riuti. In Fiftienth Environmental Sanitary Engineering Refresh Course, Politecnico di Milano. CIPA ed. Happenstall, T., 1998. Advanced gas turbine cycles for power generation: a critical review. Applied Thermal Engineering 18, 837846. ` Hauserman, W.B., Giordano, N., Lagana, M., Recupero, V., 1997. Biomass gasiers for fuel cells systems. La Chimica & L Industria 2, 199206. Iacobazzi, 1995. Le celle a combustibile, Il funzionamento di una cella a combustibile, I principali tipi di celle a combustibile, Limpianto da 1 MW con celle a combustibile di Milano. ENEA Internet Site, Research Center of Casaccia, last up-date 24 May 1995.

Kellett, 1999). Moreover it is incorrect to compare the cost of new technology with the cost of old technology, because the former also includes the R&D cost.

10. Conclusions The gasication process oers considerable energy recovery and reduces the emission of potential pollutants. It is considered an interesting alternative to the conventional technology for the thermal treatment of solid wastes. The principal diculties of solid waste gasication, especially for municipal solid waste (MSW), are related to the heterogeneity of wastes. A possible solution is the production of a refuse derived fuel (RDF) with homogeneous and controlled characteristics. In any case, gasication is particularly suitable for many homogeneous agricultural and industrial wastes (waste tyres, paper and cardboard wastes, wood wastes, food wastes, etc.). Gasication plants could be integrated with preexisting industrial and thermoelectric plants, because of their exibility and compactness. The most signicant choices of design are the reactor type and process cycle, which can be conveniently adopted according to waste characteristics. The main components of gasication plants for the recovery of energy from solid wastes are discussed while describing and comparing the possible technological options and their environmental impacts. Several industrial scale applications are discussed and future perspectives of gasication are introduced.

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