Energy 24 (1999) 209–218

Experimental studies on municipal solid waste pyrolysis in a

laboratory-scale rotary kiln
A.M. Li, X.D. Li, S.Q. Li, Y. Ren, N. Shang, Y. Chi, J.H. Yan, K.F. Cen*
Institute for Thermal Power Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
Received 2 April 1998

Abstract
A laboratory-scale, externally heated, rotary-kiln pyrolyser was designed and built. Pyrolysis tests were
performed. Solid wastes (paper, paperboard, waste plastics including PVC and PE, rubber, vegetal materials,
wood, and orange husk) were tested. The effects of heating methods, moisture contents and size of waste
on pyrolysis gas yields and compositions, as well as heating values, were evaluated.  1999 Elsevier
Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

MSW (municipal solid waste) production and accumulation are global environmental issues
[1]. Both pyrolysis and incineration have been applied in recent years for the purpose of energy
recovery in WTE (waste to energy) plants. Studies have indicated that a suitable thermal pyrolysis
method may be used for resolving the disposal problems and effective energy conversion from
MSW [2–6]. Properly designed and operated thermal treatment devices do not pose serious threats
to the environment [7]. In pyrolysis, emissions of NOx, SO2 and heavy metals are much lower
than those in incineration [8]. Controls of emissions are easier for pyrolysis than for incineration
due to reduced oxygen content, lower temperature and greatly reduced air-flow rate. In pyrolysis,
the ability to control the production of pollutants minimizes the need for expensive post-process
gas scrubbing. With pyrolysis, reaction parameters may be easily varied to alter the product com-
position [9]. Pyrolysis is an endothermic process. However, in most cases, the quantities of gener-

* Corresponding author. Fax: 0086-0571-7951616; E-mail: itpe@sun.zju.edu.cn

0360-5442/99/$ - see front matter  1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 3 6 0 - 5 4 4 2 ( 9 8 ) 0 0 0 9 5 - 4
210 A.M. Li et al. / Energy 24 (1999) 209–218

ated gas are more than sufficient to meet thermal process needs by using recycled gas combus-
tion [9].
The use of rotary kilns is advantageous for other pyrolysis technologies. Solid wastes with
different shapes, sizes and heating values can be fed into rotary kilns in batches or continually.
Rotary kilns have been widely used in incineration and studied by many researchers [10–13]. In
incineration, a kiln is often followed by an after-burner to ensure a complete combustion [14–
16]. In the 1970s, a field-scale rotary kiln was first used to pyrolyse waste tires at Rocky Flats
[17]. Since then, the pyrolysis technology has been greatly improved and widely applied. Most
kilns used for pyrolysis are internally heated. The heating value of the produced gas is very low
and it must be co-combusted with oil or natural gas in close-by utilities [18]. In order to raise
the heating value of the produced gas and make the gas more widely usable, externally heated
kilns should be designed [19]. There are very few published reports on pyrolysis of municipal
solid waste in externally heated rotary kilns.
An externally heated rotary-kiln pyrolyser was designed and built at Zhejiang University to
produce medium heating value gas from solid wastes. In this paper, the characteristics of the gases
produced by pyrolysis from various materials under different operating conditions are described.

2. Experimental studies

2.1. Rotary kiln

The rotary-kiln pyrolyser is shown schematically in Fig. 1. The furnace has an internal diameter
of 0.205 m and is 0.450 m long. The pyrolyser can process up to 4.5 litres of feedstock in each
run and its rotation rate ranges from 0.5 to 10 rpm, in our tests, the kiln rotation rate was adjusted
to 3 rpm. Two k-type thermocouples were used to record the temperature–time history in the
kiln. One was fixed on the inner surface and the other suspended at the center of the freeboard.
The kiln is heated by a 12 kW electric furnace. The temperature of the kiln freeboard may reach
850°C when the temperature of the internal surface of the furnace is at 900°C.

Fig. 1. Schematic of the apparatus; 1 ⫽ thermometer, 2 ⫽ bearing, 3 ⫽ gear transmission, 4 ⫽ electric furnace, 5
⫽ rotary kiln, 6 ⫽ temperature controller, 7 ⫽ seal, 8 ⫽ two-step condenser, 9 ⫽ filter, 10 ⫽ total flowmeter, 11 ⫽
computer, 12 ⫽ gas sampler, 13 ⫽ feed and discharge opening, 14 ⫽ adjustable-speed motor.
 A.M. Li et al. / Energy 24 (1999) 209–218 211

2.2. Sealing

Sealing of rotary kilns is a difficult technology, especially for a pyrolyser. In our pyrolyser,
the internal pressure of the kiln was higher than atmospheric. The hot gas must be carefully
contained. A special friction-type seal was designed and successfully applied to contain the hot
pyrolysis gas.

2.3. Gas processing

A two-step, directly water-cooled condenser is used to cool the hot pyrolysis gas. Most of the
tar and moisture are condensed. The pyrolysis gas passes next through a filter (a glass tube filled
with quartz wool). The remaining tar and moisture in the gas are here removed. Before and after
each test, the condenser and filter are weighted. Thus, the tar and moisture generated during the
test may be calculated. The gas flow rate is recorded using a total flowmeter. A gas sampler is
located at the end of the system.

2.4. Gas sampling and analysis

A computer-controlled gas-sampling device is used. The computer controls the sampling pro-
cedure by adjusting the electrical magnet valves of the sampling balls. A gas chromatograph is
used to analyse the compositions (e.g. H2, CO, CH4, CO2, O2, N2, C2H4 and C2H6) of the gas.

2.5. Raw materials

The primary and ultimate analyses of the wastes are listed in Table 1.

2.6. Heating methods

Two methods are selected to heat the raw materials. During slow heating, the kiln filled with
raw materials is kept outside of the furnace until the temperature of the electrical furnace is stable
at a defined value. With this process, the kiln is cool at the start of the tests and the temperature
of the raw materials increases slowly. During fast heating, the empty kiln is first placed into the
electrical furnace and then heated. Raw materials are introduced into the kiln promptly when the
temperature of the electrical furnace is stable at a defined value. With this fast procedure, the
temperature of the raw materials increases faster than with slow heating method. Fast heating
resembles continuous feed operation, while slow heating is similar to a batch-feed operation.

3. Results and discussion

In the fast heating method, the gas release is completed in 7 min except for vegetal and orange
husk as shown in Fig. 2. For the pyrolysis of vegetal and orange husk, about 15 min are required
due to their high moisture content. The moisture content of vegetal materials is 86.86%, while
212 A.M. Li et al. / Energy 24 (1999) 209–218

Table 1
Primary and ultimate analyses of the raw materials

Materials Primary analysis Ultimate analysis

Mad (%) Aad (%) Vad (%) FCad (%) Qb,ad Cad (%) Had (%) Nad (%) Sad (%) Oad (%)
(J/g)

Paper 10.25 2.09 74.45 13.21 32816.5 36.12 5.37 0.09 0.17 45.91
Paper 9.28 12.76 65.56 12.40 14074.8 38.6 4.90 0.21 0.17 34.08
board
Wood- 14.83 2.94 69.41 12.82 15855.5 40.32 4.68 0.18 0.06 36.99
chip
Cotton 5.14 0.79 86.94 7.13 15443.3 42.5 5.32 0.2 0.13 45.92
cloth
Vegetal 86.86 2.51 8.60 2.03 201.1 4.39 0.33 0.57 0.07 5.27
Orange 73.93 0.72 21.51 3.84 4759.5 13.42 1.88 0.35 0.02 9.68
husk
PE 0.17 0.06 99.77 0 37575.2 89.28 13.66 0.06 0.02 0
plastic
PVC 0.28 14.95 64.88 19.89 15854.6 34.24 3.85 0.17 0.08 46.43*
plastic
Rubber 0.45 47.03 39.53 12.99 10001.6 25.22 2.45 0.14 0.19 24.52

*Cl is also contained in this item.

Fig. 2. Relation between the total gas flow and the pyrolysis time.

that of orange husk is 73.93%. Typical pyrolysis results are summarized in Table 2. The heating
value of the produced gas ranges from 13 000 to 23 000 kJ/Nm3.
3.1. Temperature
Temperature is a very important factor in the pyrolysis of solid wastes. Although various heat-
ing rates were used in many laboratory studies, the heating rate was kept constant during each
 A.M. Li et al. / Energy 24 (1999) 209–218 213

Table 2
Pyrolysis product yields at 800°C

Materials Gas output (Nm3/kg) Tar and water (wt %) Semicoke (wt %)

PVC plastic 0.191 0.436 0.359

PE plastic 0.720 0.457 0.141
Rubber 0.126 0.130 0.769
Paper 0.374 0.466 0.098
Paperboard 0.282 0.440 0.248
Wood-chip 0.376 0.379 0.186
Cotton cloth 0.480 0.303 0.159
Vegetal 0.051 0.888 0.045
Orange husk 0.176 0.749 0.031

test. However, in practice, the heating rates of materials are not constant but will vary with time.
In our tests, two heating methods are used to simulate continuous and batch-feed operations. Figs.
3 and 4 show typical time–temperature curves. In Fig. 3, cotton cloth is put into the kiln when
the temperatures of the kiln freeboard and wall are stable at 800°C. Both the kiln-freeboard and
wall temperatures drop quickly and reach the lowest value at about 674°C before they start to
increase. It first increases quickly and then more slowly. In Fig. 4, the wood chips are fed into
the kiln when the kiln was still cool and the charge and kiln are heated up together, the rate of
the temperature increase is now much slower than before, about 10 min are required to reach
600°C. In Figs. 3 and 4, the kiln wall temperature is higher than the freeboard temperature during
the entire process. This is a characteristic of externally-heated kilns because heat is transferred
from the outside to the inside.

Fig. 3. Variation of the temperatures of the kiln-freeboard and internal wall during cotton-cloth pyrolysis with the
rapid heating method.
214 A.M. Li et al. / Energy 24 (1999) 209–218

Fig. 4. Variation of the temperatures of the kiln-freeboard and internal wall during wood-chips pyrolysis for the slow
heating method.

3.2. Effects of heating methods on the pyrolysis-gas yield

Wood and PVC plastics were pyrolysed with the different heating methods in order to study
the effects of heating methods on gas yield and pyrolysis time. Figs. 5 and 6 show comparisons
of the results. The quantities of gas obtained with the fast heating method are much greater than
those obtained with slow heating. The quantities of the gas obtained in pyrolysis are mainly
determined by the residence time of the materials at the high temperature.

Fig. 5. The relation between total gas flow and pyrolysis time for wood-chips with different heating methods.
 A.M. Li et al. / Energy 24 (1999) 209–218 215

Fig. 6. The relation between total gas flow and pyrolysis time for PVC with different heating methods.

3.3. Gas composition and heating value

Fig. 7 shows that the fraction of H2 in the pyrolysis gas increases with the temperature because
larger molecules are easier to break into small molecules with increasing temperature [5]. As
shown in Fig. 7, the large molecule contents of C2H4 and C2H6 decrease with increasing tempera-
ture. The CO content increases when the temperature is below 670°C, then decreases and becomes
stabilized at 28–29%. The CH4 content increases when the temperature is below 750°C and then
decreases. The CO2 content drops steeply when the temperature is below 565°C and then fluctuates

Fig. 7. Changes of gas compositions with the kiln-freeboard temperature during wood-chips pyrolysis.
216 A.M. Li et al. / Energy 24 (1999) 209–218

Fig. 8. Changes of the gas heating values with the kiln-freeboard temperatures during wood-chips and PE pyrolyses
in the kiln.

from 14.8 to 18%. The change of the gas heating value with the kiln-freeboard temperature is
shown in Fig. 8. The trends of heating values of the pyrolysis gases are similar for wood chips
and PE plastics. There is a maximum value of 750°C for wood and 660°C for PE plastics.

3.4. The effects of moisture and size of raw material

Different sizes and moisture contents of wood-chips are described and their physical character-
istics shown in Table 3.
Fig. 9 shows the effects of the size and moisture of the wood-chips on the total flow of pyrolysis
gas. The moisture content has an obvious effect on the pyrolysis time. When the moisture content
increases from 5.25 to 14.83%, the pyrolysis time increases from 6 to 12 min. Higher moisture
content means that more heat is required for evapovation and thus more time is needed. Compared
to the moisture, the size has little effect on the pyrolysis time. It is interesting that 50 mm wood-
chips produce more gas per unit mass than 24 mm wood-chips during a specified reaction time.
The size distributions for the semicokes produced from pyrolysis are shown in Fig. 10. The weight
percentage of the semicoke, which size is smaller than 8 mm, is about 62% for 50 mm wood-
chips and it is about 37% for 24 mm wood-chips. Thus, fragmentation for the wood-chips with

Table 3
Physical characteristics of wood-chips

Code Diameter (mm) Length (mm) Mad (%)

1 22 40 14.83
2 24 40 5.25
3 34 40 14.83
4 50 40 5.25
 A.M. Li et al. / Energy 24 (1999) 209–218 217

Fig. 9. Effects of size and moisture content of wood-chips on the total flow of pyrolysis gas. (Legend 1, 2,3, 4 refer
to Table 3.)

Fig. 10. Particle sizes distributions for semicoke formed from wood-chips. (Legend 1, 2,3, 4 refer to Table 3.)

larger initial size is more violent than that with smaller initial size. Fragmentation aids rapid
heating and promotes the gas yield. The conditions are different for 24 and 34 mm wood-chips,
they produce nearly the same quantities of gas and required nearly the same pyrolysis time. It is
probably because that their high moisture (Mad ⫽ 14.83%) content slows the rate of increase of
temperature and alleviates the breakage.

4. Conclusion

Pyrolysis with fast heating method not only needs less reaction time but also produces more
gas than that with slow heating method. The compositions and the heating values of the pyrolysis
218 A.M. Li et al. / Energy 24 (1999) 209–218

gas vary during the pyrolysis. With the increase of temperature, small molecule compositions
increase and big molecule compositions decrease. The heating values first increases and decrease
after reaching a maximum value. Compared to the size, the moisture has more effects on gas
yields and pyrolysis time. The breakage of raw materials will take place during the pyrolysis.
The lower moisture content and the larger original size will enhance the breakage.

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