Supercritical water gasification of wastes from the paper industry

Abstract

Supercritical water gasification (SCWG) is a process that has been examined in the past years for its potential implementation in waste treatment technologies. SCWG can convert organic waste streams from industrial activities into energy. A one of a kind vertical continuous apparatus was constructed at UCT Prague for testing this process. Several experiments with tall soap and black liquor on the hydrothermal gasification apparatus were performed. In this paper, results that permit to compare the influence of different process conditions (residence time, catalyst addition). In addition, practical gasification experiences with real industry waste streams treated in the specific vertical reactor made from stainless steel are presented. All acquired data were obtained from experiments carried at temperature 500 °C and pressure 25 MPa. The reached carbon efficiency when using tall soap and black liquor were 11% and 24%, respectively.