Effect of airflow on moisture removal of rotary biodrying reactors

Abstract

Biodrying is the process to reduce moisture from municipal solid waste (MSW) by using the heat from aerobic bio-degradation. The typical process parameters are aeration, temperature during the process, initial moisture of waste, and temperature and relative humidity of the inlet air. This study aimed to investigate the effects of air flow rate and the supplied direct airflow duration on the rotary biodrying process for drying the high initial moisture content households solid waste, allowing satisfied energy content biofuel. The MSW from the Karai subdistric, kratumban samutsakorn province were used as a substrate. Biodrying process was performed in 8 trails with various air volumes from 0.20 to 0.45 m3/hr.-kg dry weight (dw). It was found that the increased airflow rate was not linearly proportional to the weight loss. The hydrolytic stage period (2 days) before supplied high air flow in aerobic stage could more increase moisture removal efficiency for rotary biodrying than increase double air flow rate only. The end product was sufficiently homogeneous and heating values 18,024 – 24,260 kJ/kg.