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Simultaneous effects of airflow and temperature increase on water removal in bio-drying

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Abstract

Bio-drying MBT is a type of mechanical biological treatment (MBT) system, whereby the aerobic biological process is first used to remove moisture, which is followed by the mechanical separation to recover material and energy as a solid recovered fuel (SRF). Among various parameters of this process, the simultaneous effects of airflow rate and organic contents were examined in this study. A 25 L acrylic column reactor was filled with simulated waste. Temperature and humidity of the air inlet and outlet were continuously monitored, and CO2 concentrations in outlet air were periodically analyzed to observe aerobic biodegradation as well as metabolic water generation. Based on the data, the different water removal contributions by airflow and biodegradation were compared, and finally, evaluation of the inter-dependence of parameters and feedback effect in the bio-drying process was carried out. While the biodegradation of organics induced a significant amount of water removal due to increased temperature, high organic content has a negative effect on water removal by generating metabolic water. Water removal by air replacement is greater than that associated with temperature increases caused by biodegradation. However, excessive airflow rate can terminate biodegradation by drastically lowered moisture content, even though organics remained.

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Abbreviations

t :

Time (days)

T :

Temperature (℃)

V :

Airflow rate (m3/h)

CO2 :

CO2 concentration (%)

X :

Water vapor per unit air volume (g/m3)

RH:

Relative humidity (%)

ρ a :

Density of dry air (kg/m3)

p v :

Water vapor pressure (Pa)

p vs :

Saturated water vapor pressure (Pa)

M O :

Organic mass (kg)

∆MO :

Organic degradation rate (kg/h)

∆Cgen :

CO2 generation rate (kmol/h)

OC:

Organic content (%)

W :

Water mass (kg)

∆w :

Water removal rate (kg/h)

∆wgen :

Metabolic water generation rate (kg/h)

MC:

Moisture content (%)

∆Q :

Heat flow rate (kJ/h)

∆Qgen :

Metabolic heat generation rate (kJ/h)

Q :

Heat of combustion for degraded organics (kJ/kg)

h dry :

Enthalpy of dry air (kJ/kg)

h vapor :

Enthalpy of water vapor (kJ/kg)

in:

Inlet

out:

Outlet

s :

Waste

nom:

Nominal

act:

Actual

air:

Removed by airflow

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the 2017 Research Fund of the University of Seoul.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Solid Waste Disposal Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, Kita 13, Nishi 8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-8628, Japan

    Geun-Yong Ham, Toshihiko Matsuto & Yasumasa Tojo

  2. Department of Environmental Engineering, University of Seoul, 163 Seoulsiripdaero, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, 02504, Republic of Korea

    Dong-Hoon Lee & Jae-Ram Park

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  1. Geun-Yong Ham
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Correspondence to Toshihiko Matsuto.

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Ham, GY., Lee, DH., Matsuto, T. et al. Simultaneous effects of airflow and temperature increase on water removal in bio-drying. J Mater Cycles Waste Manag 22, 1056–1066 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10163-020-01000-x

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