Background. Currently, the disposal of household and agricultural waste involves either waste burial or incineration at waste incineration plants. Thus, it causes great harm for the environment, as well as high economic costs, both capital and operating, required for the destruction of waste. The few cases where energy is derived from waste still require huge capital and operating costs for the construction of separate waste recycling facilities. The author suggests using existing thermal power plants as facilities for the disposal of solid household and agricultural waste. Previously conducted numerical modeling of thermal destruction of waste, which revealed the optimal process parameters, is the basis for experimental studies of gasification in a reactor. The purpose of this study is to test the technology of thermal gasification of solid waste at optimal process parameters in a reactor of an improved design.
Materials and methods. Experimental studies of the reverse-type gasifier have been carried out using physical measurement methods such as a direct assessment method, contact and non-contact methods, and the differential method. To calculate the heat of combustion of the resulting generator gas, the author has used a technique of the standard method for thermal calculation of boiler units in accordance with GOST 31369-2021 (ISO 6976:2016). Wooden containers that have lost their consumer properties have been taken as a sample of solid waste for the experimental study. The relevance of choosing this type of raw material is confirmed by statistical data approved in accordance with the Territorial Waste Management Scheme of the Rostov Region, defining the type and amount of waste arriving at landfills in the Rostov Region annually.
Results. An improved design of the solid waste gasifier has been developed and created, providing the largest area of interaction of the raw material carbon and the oxidizer oxygen. It has been established that the heat of combustion of the generator gas obtained in the developed gasifier (7,85 MJ/m3) is higher than the heat of combustion of gas in classical reverse-type gasifiers (5,40 MJ/m3).
Conclusions. The experimental studies conducted made it possible to obtain generator gas with a higher combustion heat than in a classic reverse-flow reactor. The developed plant can be considered as a pilot model and has the ability to be scaled up on an industrial scale at real-world power facilities.