(661e) Air Pollution Control: Pyrolysis Based on Waste to Energy Plant

Waste to energy (WtE) processes are processes that convert wastes to different forms of energy.

WtE processes provide a source of energy and reduces the accumulation of wastes in landfills or

other areas. Different WtE technologies are used worldwide, from fermentation to thermochemical

conversions, these technologies turn different wastes to different products. The aim of

this project is to design air pollution control units for a pyrolysis based waste to energy plant. The

feedstock to the WtE plant was taken to be Municipal Solid Waste (MSW). The process produces

pyrolysis oil, syngas, and char. The calculations for this project were done based on yields from

fast pyrolysis. The process flow diagram was designed to remove the pollutants in the gas phase

outlet streams. The pollutants include particulate matter of different aerodynamic diameters, and

sulfur dioxide (SO2). The desulfurization unit uses limestone slurry as an absorbent, and produces

gypsum. The particulate matter is removed by three main units, cyclone separators, baghouse

filters and electrostatic precipitators (ESP). The cyclone removed relatively large particulate

matters and the finer particulates were removed using the baghouse and ESP. The air pollution

control units were sized in order to meet the outlet particulate matter and sulfur dioxide standards

of the UAE government. The sizing of the equipment was performed using theoretical correlations

and was later confirmed by simulation on SuperPro Designer. Based on the sizing that was

calculated, the cost of each equipment was followed by the total APC units cost. HAZOP (Hazard

and Operability study) was also considered and discussed in this project in order to study the

environmental effects of the APC units as well in terms of potential failures. The project ended

with future work which can be continued later in the future.