Comparative Analysis of Torrefaction Characteristics of Sewage Sludge using Fluidized and Downdraft Fixed Bed Reactors

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The aim of this project was to explore the potential of the torrefaction treatment for upgrading sewage sludge into valuable product. An ancillary investigation on the cold fluidization and the behavior of sewage sludge was analyzed. The effects of the main torrefaction variables, temperature and residence time, on the performance parameters such as fixed carbon, calorific value; molar ratios, ultimate and proximate analysis, chemical exergy etc. were investigated for torrefied sewage sludge. Results for both the reactors showed that the thermochemical transformations that sewage sludge underwent, as a results of the release of volatile matter due to thermal decomposition of its organic constituents, resulted in significant improvement of their chemical and physical properties. Results obtained from this study showed that despite the leverage that fluidized bed offers (heat and mass transfer) fixed bed configuration was more pronounced for torrefaction of sewage sludge. However, a decisive conclusion cannot be made at this stage as more detail study would be required to draw a definitive conclusion over the preference of reactor for torrefaction.