Meat and bone meal and coal co-gasification: Environmental advantages

Meat and bone meal (MBM) is currently an important waste product found all over the world. Actually, part of this residue's energy power is lost in land fills. Co-gasification of MBM and coal in a fluidised bed reactor, using air as a fluidising agent, has been studied as a possible alternative for the management of this material. The research studied the influence of the operational conditions (temperature, equivalence ratio and MBM percentage fed) on the product gas composition and on the gas lower heating value. The operational conditions analysed were temperature (800-900 degrees C), equivalence ratio (0.25-0.35) and the MBM percentage added to coal (0-1 wt.%). The results obtained were analysed according to the Design of Experiments (DOE) statistical tool. Experimental results obtained showed that co-gasification of coal with a low percentage of MBM are possible in a fluidised bed reactor. 9 (vol.%) of carbon monoxide and 6 (vol.%) of hydrogen are obtained in the produced flue gas. A gas with a heating value, between 2100 and 3500 kJ/(STP)m(3), has been quantified. The addition of (up to) 1 wt.% of MBM to the coal gasification does not affect the CO and H-2 gas production, however, the gas yield increases and the lower heating value decreases with this addition. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.