Validation of the Plasma Resource Recovery System (PRRS) Simulations

摘要

The Plasma Resource Recovery System (PRRS) converts waste into electrical energy, metal, and vitreous slag in two stages. Unsorted waste is fed into a graphite arc reactor. The organic portion is gasified to synthesis gas (syngas) while the inorganic portion melts and is tapped separately as metal ingots and vitrified slag, which could be usable as construction material.rnThe syngas, generated from the reactor, is polished using an air plasma torch removing long chain hydrocarbons and tars, and then cleaned of particulates, heavy metals and acid gases. The clean syngas (typical composition of 24% CO, 6% CO_2, 15% H_2 and balance N_2) can be fed into an internal combustion engine to produce energy.rnPyroGenesis Canada Inc. (PGC) operates a PRRS prototype facility in Montreal, Canada. PGC is currently scaling-up the system to treat 10.5 metric tonnes per day (TPD) of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), Hazardous Waste and Biomedical Waste for an application in the United States. Towards this scale-up, a computer process simulation model was developed to establish a basis for the mass and energy balance. Simulation results were validated on the prototype installation.rnProcess simulation results indicate that, for 0.12 kg/s (10.5 metric tonnes per day, TPD) of MSW fed, 0.22 Standard Cubic Meter per Second (465.7 Standard Cubic Feed per Minute, scfm) of dry syngas would be produced. The results show that a 15% increase in the moisture content from 30 to 45% would result in a 3.5% reduction in the heating value of the dry syngas, and a 10% increase in the inorganic content from 20 to 30% would result in a 1.8% reduction in the heating value of the dry syngas.rnThe prototype and the simulation model results, as well as the scale-up system, are discussed in this paper.