Air gasification of polypropylene plastic waste in fluidized bed gasifier

An experimental study on air gasification of polypropylene was conducted in a fluidized bed gasifier with an insider diameter (i.d.) of 100 mm and a height of 4.2 m. The effect of the equivalence ratio, bed height and fluidization velocity on various gasification results, including the product yield distribution, gas composition, gas heating value and gas yield were studied. The equivalence ratio appeared to have a significant effect on the reactor temperature and other gasification results. The increase of the equivalence ratio favored the formation of the fuel gas and decreased the formation of the tars and char. The decrease in the hydrocarbons content and, therefore, the gas heating value with an increase in the equivalence ratio were also observed. Both the bed height and the fluidization velocity seemed to have a small influence on the gasification results. The results obtained so far indicated that fluidized bed gasification of polypropylene with air could produce a fuel gas with a calorific value in the range of 5.2-11.4 MJ/N m(3) and low tars content, which could be used in many end use applications. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.