| Summary: | Organic concentrate from municipal solid waste obtained from an autoclave separation process were used to carry out fermentation, gasification and pyrolysis to assess their potential for renewable energy production. Fermentation was a very promising process, where maximum enzymatic hydrolysis conversion of 53% of the cellulose and hemi-cellulose was found using a particle size range of 150-300 um hydrolyzed in a 100 ml buffer solution containing 6 per cent summer OC sample with 90 mg cellulase at pH 4.8 held at 40°C for 12 hours. The findings indicate that 152 L of ethanol could be obtained from a ton of the summer OC sample (Li et al., 2011b). The gasification experiment indicated a 1:1 ratio of H2: CO produced at 800°C using diluted air with steam. Pyrolysis of the summer OC sample was carried out using a bench-scale fluidized bed reactor at 350-540 °C comparing AI203 with activated olivine sand as bed materials. A maximum oil yield of 50% was obtained using the activated olivine sand at 400°C while only 45% was obtained at 500 °C using A1203• The calorific value of the bio-oil at 500°C was 29 MJ/kg using activated olivine sand while the blo-oil using AI203 was 23 MJ/kg. The blo-oils using activated olivine sand at 400°C were less aromatic and contained less nitrogen compared to the oils obtained using AI203 at 400°C (Li et al., 2011a). In addition, a bench-scale fixed bed reactor was used to carry out pyrolysis of the summer OC samples at 460-540 °C and a maximum oil yield of 44% was obtained at 500°C with a reaction time of 60 minutes. In conclusion, the MSW OC samples obtained from Estech have great potentials to be used as a renewable resource.
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