Value-added performance and thermal decomposition characteristics of dumped food waste compost by pyrolysis

Abstract

Food waste compost has a high Na content, which interferes with plant growth when used as a soil enhancer and therefore makes it difficult to use. And, compared to the amount of compost produced every day, the amount of consumption required in farms is smaller, and the rest is buried underground, which releases greenhouse gases and pollutes underground water. This research compared and analyzed thermal degradation behavior, calorific value, and gas spectrometry during the pyrolysis between foodwaste compost and sawdust to suggest producing foodwaste compost biochar by pyrolysis as a new alternative solution to utilize the massive amount of food waste compost. Biochar from pyrolysis of food waste compost had a high carbon content of 51% at 300 °C, and the carbon content decreased as the pyrolysis temperature increased. According to the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and derivative thermo-gravimetric (DTG) analysis results, compost showed the largest weight reduction from 240 °C to 365 °C. The weight reduction temperature ranges for compost and sawdust were quite similar. This occurred because food waste of the compost was degraded, but sawdust of compost remained nearly during the composting process. A gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis found that the gases were fragments of fatty acids, protein, and hemi-cellulose. These results could also have been caused by degradation of microorganisms involved in the composting process, sawdust, and small fragments of food waste. In the calorific value of biochar, the highest value (24.33 kJ/g) was obtained 300 °C. At a low pyrolysis temperature, carbon fixation occurred easily since the food waste in compost was degraded by microorganism, and the volatilization of sawdust, which plays an important role in determining the calorific value, was also small. That is why the highest calorific value was shown at 300 °C, not 400 °C or 500 °C. Hence, it seems that food waste compost can be used as a promising alternative fuel at a low pyrolysis temperature, as other lignocellulosic refuse-derived fuels (RDF).