Chlorine removal mechanism from municipal solid waste using steam with various temperatures

With a goal to develop a suitable refuse derived fuel (RDF) manufacturing process, organic and inorganic chlorine removal from RDF was investigated by using steam with various temperatures. For organic chlorine pyrolysis, steam temperature was changed from 463 to 573 K. For inorganic chlorine removal by steam condensation, steam temperature was fixed at 373 K. The pyrolysis kinetics of organic chlorine increased with an increase in superheated steam temperature, whereas the chlorine emission kinetics increased with an increase in sample temperature. Part of the pyrolyzed organic chlorine changed to inorganic chlorine. Organic chlorine decreased more rapidly than a decrease in dry matter yield, but inorganic chlorine increased with a decrease in dry matter yield above 0.8, which indicated that the decreasing ratio of total chlorine was roughly as large as that of dry matter yield. Removal ratio of inorganic chlorine increased with an increase in steam condensation because inorganic chlorine was dissolved in a water droplet.