Yamaguchi, D; Sanderson, PJ; Lu Aye & Lim, S 2007, 'Supercritical water gasification experiments on sewage sludge', Proceedings of 35th Australasian Chemical Engineering Conference (CD-ROM), CHEMECA 2007: Academia and Industry Strengthening the Profession, Melbourne, 23-26 September 2007, pp. 728-34.

Abstract

Non-catalytic supercritical water gasification (SCWG) of sewage sludge was investigated to characterise the effects of temperature and reaction time on the yield of gaseous products. The SCWG experiments were conducted by using a novel quartz capillary immersion technique at 600 - 800 C and 10 - 180 seconds. The gas products consisted of H2, CO, CO2, CH4 and C2 hydrocarbons. H2 was found to increase with increasing the temperature, reaching a mole fraction of over 25 % at 800 C whereas the yield of CH4 and C2 hydrocarbons experienced concentration peaks at 700 C and decreased at 800 C. The effect of reaction time showed the similar changing pattern on the gas yields.

Keywords: Supercritical water gasification (SCWG); sewage sludge; experiment; gas yield