Comparatively investigation of real MSW and biomass tar treatment by a rotating gliding arc

Effective tar removal is the bottleneck in gasification application with municipal solid waste (MSW) and biomass as feedstocks. Herein, a rotating gliding arc plasma reactor equipped with a specific designed swirling generator and pre-heating systems is firstly proposed to treat real tar rather than tar surrogates. The composition of MSW and biomass tar is comparatively analyzed. The influence of vapor concentration, CO2 concentration and the discharge current on the destruction efficiency and distribution of gas products are systematically emphasized. The destruction efficiency of major components from both MSW and biomass tar can reach up to over 90%. The order of destruction efficiency of the components tends to be eta (Monocyclic species) > eta (Bicyclic species) >eta (Tricyclic species). Amongst, species with oxygen-containing functional group such as -OH is prone to be destructed compared with those aromatic hydrocarbon species. Similar changing trend of MSW and biomass tar destruction efficiency dependent on operating parameters is detected, with slight differences attributed to the differences of element and group content.

Automated summary

A rotating gliding arc plasma reactor is proposed to effectively remove tar from municipal solid waste and biomass, achieving over 90% destruction efficiency for major components. The study compared the composition of tar from MSW and biomass, highlighting the influence of vapor concentration, CO2 concentration, and discharge current on destruction efficiency. Species with oxygen-containing functional groups are more susceptible to destruction compared to aromatic hydrocarbon species, with similar trends in destruction efficiency observed for both MSW and biomass tar.