Energy Recovery from Municipal Solid Waste

Abstract

Energy flow analysis and thermal degradation of municipal solid waste was carried out using differential scanning calorimetry and thermo-gravimetric analyzer at heating rates of 10 K/min, 20 K/min, 30 K/min and 40 K/min in a nitrogen atmosphere and temperatures between 308 K and 1273 K. The activation energy (E a ) is the energy barrier which must be overcome for reaction to occur. Thermal degradation behavior experiments show that the municipal solid waste is less reactive than biomass or coal with activation energy ranging between 205.9 to 260.6kJ/mol. These value are higher than typical wood activation energy which ranges between 50 and 180kJ/mol and coal with a range between 30 and 90 kJ/mol. These value of activation energy can be improved by pretreatment of municipal solid waste.