Thermochemical valorisation of real post-consumer mixed textile waste
article
Thermochemical conversion for the valorisation of mixed post-consumer textile waste was experimentally investigated. Four model mixtures were investigated, mainly consisting of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with the addition of nylon (polyamide (PA) 6) and elastane (polyurethane (PUR)), to represent the synthetic fraction of textiles, and one real post-consumer textile waste stream. Experiments were performed in a bubbling fluidized bed for different temperatures (700–850 ◦C) and steam-to-carbon ratios (0 & 1). Due to the thermal decompo sition of PET, the main products were CO2 (15 % carbon yield) and benzene (26 % carbon yield) for the model mixtures. With the addition of PA6 and PUR, the yields decreased in favour of higher hydrocarbon yields. For the real textile waste (>50 wt% cotton), the product distribution shifted towards higher product gas yields, with the gas mainly consisting of syngas (H2 and CO). As the reaction temperature increased the benzene, toluene and light olefin yields for the real textile waste increased (up to 802 ◦C). At higher temperatures syngas became the predominant product, with H2 yields increasing significantly. The effect of steam on the product distribution was less significant compared to the reaction temperatures, with steam leading to higher H2 and CO2 yields. The results demonstrated the feasibility of textile waste valorisation via thermochemical conversion to retrieve high value chemicals (benzene and toluene) and syngas with varying.
TNO Identifier
1020145
Source
Fuel(407), pp. 1-13.
Pages
1-13