Steam-oxygen fluidized bed gasification of sewage sludge

Abstract

Sewage sludge is a residue that is generated unavoidably by the population. On a first sight, sewage sludge may be a hazardous waste that requires safe disposal. By looking closer, it is recognized as secondary resource. The mineral fraction contains valuable elements such as phosphorous, which can be retrieved as secondary raw material. This thesis focuses on the organic fraction, which is a renewable fuel and carbon source and can be used to substitute fossil carbon in fuels and chemicals. The first step in converting sewage sludge to renewable goods is syngas production via gasification. The experimental work of this thesis demonstrated the feasibility of synthesis gas production from sewage sludge by steam-oxygen fluidized bed gasification. It was shown that the process works reliably in the investigated 20 kW scale and that the syngas contains high H2 and CO concentrations and is thus suitable for synthesis of fuels and chemicals. The impurities NH3, H2S, COS and tar species, including heterocyclic species such as pyridine, were measured in considerable concentrations in the syngas. Small amounts of limestone bed additive enabled cracking of heavy tars and partial capture of H2S and COS. It was further found that the cold gas efficiency increases with rising gasification temperature due to improved tar and char conversion at higher temperatures. The typical operation temperature 850 °C requires an oxygen ratio of 0.33, obtaining a cold gas efficiency of 63 %. Moreover, the H2/CO-ratio could be controlled efficiently by altering the steam to carbon ratio, as steam promotes the water gas shift reaction in the gasifier to achieve the desired stoichiometry for synthesis, however, resulting in higher energy demand for steam provision. The experimental results can be utilized for process design, e.g., for a TRL 7-demonstrator. Furthermore, a gasifier model was developed and an integrated process chain was simulated to assess the conversion of sewage sludge to synthetic natural gas (SNG) with and without inclusion of power-to-gas through electrolysis. The total efficiency of the conversion including own consumption for the case without electrolysis was 51 % with a carbon utilization of 33 %. These values could be enhanced by inclusion of power-to-gas. It was predicted that the produced SNG has a CH4-concentration of between 0.81 m3 m 3 and 0.84 m3 m 3 and nitrogen concentrations of up to 0.16 m3 m 3 originating from fuel-bound nitrogen. The simulations on process integration showed that up to 20% of the sewage sludge feed can be dried by heat integration. This implies that also external heat sources have to be used for drying. Overall, the steam-oxygen gasification proved to be an efficient and technically feasible process for sewage sludge treatment and can be considered as an alternative to fluidized bed incineration for future mono-treatment plants.