Chlorine removal from plastic-impregnated MSW for producing Solid fuel using innovative low temperature hydrothermal treatment technology

Abstract

PVC in the plastic-impregnated MSW (Municipal Solid Waste) is creating problem when being used as solid fuel due to its high chlorine contents. An innovative hydrothermal technology is being developed to overcome the problem by applying middle-pressure saturated steam at about 200°C in a stirred reactor for certain holding period. Experiments on a commercial plant of 1 ton MSW capacity per batch using plastic-impregnated MSW in Japan produced treated MSW in slump form which was easily dried, with the end product of less than 10% moisture content and about 20MJ/kg (db) heating value material in powder form. Product analysis showed that the organic chlorine content of the product was reduced from about 1% (dry base) to less than 0.2%, being converted to inorganic (water-soluble) chlorine. The phenomenon was shown to be apparent in higher treatment temperature. The inorganic chlorine can be removed afterward by water washing.