IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v17y2023i1p29-d1303924.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Grinding and Pelleting Characteristics of Municipal Solid Waste Fractions

Author

Listed:
  • Zachary Smith

    (Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID 83415, USA)

  • Blesson Isaac

    (Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID 83415, USA)

  • Jaya Shankar Tumuluru

    (Southwestern Cotton Ginning Research Laboratory, USDA-ARS (United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service), Las Cruces, NM 88047, USA)

  • Neal Yancey

    (Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID 83415, USA)

Abstract

The efficient utilization of low-cost carbon feedstocks, such as municipal solid waste (MSW), in biorefineries has become increasingly important for reducing GHG emissions and meeting the growing demand for renewable energy sources. However, MSW as a feedstock presents several challenges, including high moisture content, compositional variability, particle size and shape, density, and ash content. To address these challenges, the potential of mechanical dewatering and high-moisture pelleting processes for densifying MSW fractions, such as paper, cardboard, thin plastic, and thick plastic, into low-cost carbon feedstocks with improved handling and conversion properties were investigated. The effect of these preprocessing technologies on the critical quality attributes (CQAs) of the resulting pellets, including bulk density, durability, and size uniformity, were evaluated. The results showed that with these preprocessing technologies, the paper and cardboard fractions could be pelleted at moisture contents over 40% (w.b.) while achieving >99% durability and >300 kg/m 3 , while the high moisture plastic fractions were not suitable for pelleting. The thick plastic fraction processed in a screw press was shown to remove up to 30% of the moisture content in a single pass. These findings suggest that these mechanical preprocessing technologies can improve the physical properties of low-cost municipal solid waste fractions for biofuels production.

Suggested Citation

  • Zachary Smith & Blesson Isaac & Jaya Shankar Tumuluru & Neal Yancey, 2023. "Grinding and Pelleting Characteristics of Municipal Solid Waste Fractions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(1), pages 1-14, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2023:i:1:p:29-:d:1303924
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/1/29/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/1/29/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gaeta-Bernardi, André & Parente, Virginia, 2016. "Organic municipal solid waste (MSW) as feedstock for biodiesel production: A financial feasibility analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 1422-1432.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Charlotte Stead & Zia Wadud & Chris Nash & Hu Li, 2019. "Introduction of Biodiesel to Rail Transport: Lessons from the Road Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-20, February.
    2. Shu, Qing & Tang, Guoqiang & Lesmana, Herry & Zou, Laixi & Xiong, Daolin, 2018. "Preparation, characterization and application of a novel solid Brönsted acid catalyst SO42−/La3+/C for biodiesel production via esterification of oleic acid and methanol," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 253-261.
    3. Wainaina, Steven & Awasthi, Mukesh Kumar & Horváth, Ilona Sárvári & Taherzadeh, Mohammad J., 2020. "Anaerobic digestion of food waste to volatile fatty acids and hydrogen at high organic loading rates in immersed membrane bioreactors," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 1140-1148.
    4. Do, Truong Xuan & Lim, Young-il & Cho, Hyodeuk & Shim, Jaehui & Yoo, Jeongkeun & Rho, Kyutai & Choi, Seong-Geun & Park, Chanwoo & Park, Byeong-Yun, 2018. "Techno-economic analysis of fry-drying and torrefaction plant for bio-solid fuel production," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 45-53.
    5. Monteiro, Rodolpho R.C. & Arana-Peña, Sara & da Rocha, Thays N. & Miranda, Letícia P. & Berenguer-Murcia, Ángel & Tardioli, Paulo W. & dos Santos, José C.S. & Fernandez-Lafuente, Roberto, 2021. "Liquid lipase preparations designed for industrial production of biodiesel. Is it really an optimal solution?," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1566-1587.
    6. Lee, Yeol-Lim & Kim, Kyoung-Jin & Hong, Ga-Ram & Ahn, Seon-Yong & Kim, Beom-Jun & Shim, Jae-Oh & Roh, Hyun-Seog, 2021. "Highly sulfur tolerant and regenerable Pt/CeO2 catalyst for waste to energy," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 334-343.
    7. Tamás Mizik & Gábor Gyarmati, 2021. "Economic and Sustainability of Biodiesel Production—A Systematic Literature Review," Clean Technol., MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-18, January.
    8. Gao, Feng & Cui, Wei & Xu, Jing-Ping & Li, Chen & Jin, Wei-Hong & Yang, Hong-Li, 2019. "Lipid accumulation properties of Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus obliquus in membrane photobioreactor (MPBR) fed with secondary effluent from municipal wastewater treatment plant," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 671-676.
    9. Dek Vimean Pheakdey & Nguyen Van Quan & Tran Dang Khanh & Tran Dang Xuan, 2022. "Challenges and Priorities of Municipal Solid Waste Management in Cambodia," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(14), pages 1-27, July.
    10. Mizik, Tamás & Gyarmati, Gábor, 2022. "A biodízel-termelés gazdasági és fenntarthatósági vizsgálata szakirodalom-elemzéssel [Systematic literature review on the economic dimension and sustainability aspects of biodiesel production]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(5), pages 643-669.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2023:i:1:p:29-:d:1303924. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.