Implementation of a novel incinerator plant for potential heat recovery from biomass

Abstract

This study aims at the potential recovery of heat from the biomass taken from our university kitchen in a novel incinerator plant. The incineration block in turn comprises of a chamber equipped with a blower, U shaped copper tubes and catalytic converter. The selected vegetables such as carrot (Daucus carota subsp.sativus), radish (Raphanus satibus) and banana (Musa) gave about 15-20% dry matter by sun drying for four days. The dried mass of the vegetables was converted into a pulverized form by grinding and subsequently into briquettes with using starch as binding agent. These briquettes were dried by means of sun drying for 2-3 days and its moisture content is decreased to 15-20%. Once ignited, the formed briquettes are incinerated in the chamber while all exhaust gases are directed to the filtration unit. The filtration unit consists of a catalytic converter for purification of all flue gases. The flue gases are produced during incineration are passed through a catalytic converter and then further released to the atmosphere. The flue gas released to the atmosphere consists of Nitrogen (0.04%), Sulphur (0.07%), and Oxygen (42.06%). The water passed through the copper tube during incineration is processed in the form of steam due to the high temperature produced in the chamber. The residue is left behind in the ashtray which can be further used for construction or landfill based on the waste. The moisture content of biomass was almost reduced to 5.17% of dry matter. The calorific value of the three combinations of vegetables used in this study obtained is 15.27 Mj/Kg.