Dataset Information

Facemasks and ferrous metallurgy: improving gasification reactivity of low-volatile coals using waste COVID-19 facemasks for ironmaking application.

ABSTRACT: The global pandemic response to COVID-19 has led to the generation of huge volumes of unrecyclable plastic waste from single use disposable face coverings. Rotary hearth furnaces can be used to recover Zn and Fe from non-recyclable steelmaking by-product dusts, and waste plastic material such as facemasks could be utilized as a supplementary reductant for the rotary hearth furnace (RHF), but their fibrous form makes milling and processing to appropriate sizing for RHF application extremely challenging. A scalable method of grinding facemasks to powder by melting and mixing with Welsh coal dust reported herein provides a solution to both environmental challenges. The melt-blended PPE/coal dust shows a dramatically improved CO₂ gasification reactivity (E_a = 133-159 kJmol^-1) when compared to the untreated coal (E_a = 183-246 kJmol^-1), because of improved pore development in the coal during the pyrolysis stage of heating and the catalytic activity of the CaO based ash present in the facemask plastic. The results are promising for the application of waste facemasks in recycling steelmaking by-product dusts in rotary hearth furnaces and may also be suitable for direct injection to the blast furnace subject to further study.

SUBMITTER: Stewart DJC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8854564 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Facemasks and ferrous metallurgy: improving gasification reactivity of low-volatile coals using waste COVID-19 facemasks for ironmaking application.

Stewart Daniel J C DJC Fisher Lucy V LV Warwick Michael E A MEA Thomson David D Barron Andrew R AR

Scientific reports 20220217 1

The global pandemic response to COVID-19 has led to the generation of huge volumes of unrecyclable plastic waste from single use disposable face coverings. Rotary hearth furnaces can be used to recover Zn and Fe from non-recyclable steelmaking by-product dusts, and waste plastic material such as facemasks could be utilized as a supplementary reductant for the rotary hearth furnace (RHF), but their fibrous form makes milling and processing to appropriate sizing for RHF application extremely chall ...[more]

PMID: 35177739

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Project description:Among the different thermo-chemical recycling routes for plastic waste valorization, gasification is one of the most promising, converting plastic waste into syngas (H2+CO) and energy in the presence of an oxygen-rich gas. Plastic waste gasification is associated with many different complexities due to the multi-scale nature of the process, the feedstock complexity (mixed polyolefins with different contaminations), intricate reaction mechanisms, plastic properties (melting behavior and molecular weight distribution), and complex transport phenomena in a multi-phase flow system. Hence, creating a reliable model calls for an extensive understanding of the phenomena at all scales, and more advanced modeling approaches than those applied today are required. Indeed, modeling of plastic waste gasification (PWG) is still in its infancy today. Our review paper shows that the thermophysical properties are rarely properly defined. Challenges in this regard together with possible methodologies to decently define these properties have been elaborated. The complexities regarding the kinetic modeling of gasification are numerous, compared to, e.g., plastic waste pyrolysis, or coal and biomass gasification, which are elaborated in this work along with the possible solutions to overcome them. Moreover, transport limitations and phase transformations, which affect the apparent kinetics of the process, are not usually considered, while it is demonstrated in this review that they are crucial in the robust prediction of the outcome. Hence, possible approaches in implementing available models to consider these limitations are suggested. Finally, the reactor-scale phenomena of PWG, which are more intricate than the similar processes-due to the presence of molten plastic-are usually simplified to the gas-solid systems, which can result in unreliable modeling frameworks. In this regard, an opportunity lies in the increased computational power that helps improve the model's precision and allows us to include those complexities within the multi-scale PWG modeling. Using the more accurate modeling methodologies in combination with multi-scale modeling approaches will, in a decade, allow us to perform a rigorous optimization of the PWG process, improve existing and develop new gasifiers, and avoid fouling issues caused by tar.

Dataset Information

Facemasks and ferrous metallurgy: improving gasification reactivity of low-volatile coals using waste COVID-19 facemasks for ironmaking application.

Publications

Facemasks and ferrous metallurgy: improving gasification reactivity of low-volatile coals using waste COVID-19 facemasks for ironmaking application.

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