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Modular Refrigeration Unit


Biomass Flash Pyrolysis

Portable Fluidized-Bed Reactor
for Flash Pyrolysis of Landfill Waste

The Main Base Landfill at Edwards Air Force Base will reach full capacity by no later than 2017, and many other landfills across the country are facing the same situation. Waste streams need to be redirected to extend the lives of these facilities. In response to this challenge, Mainstream is developing a portable, flash-pyrolysis, fluidized-bed reactor system for conversion of landfill waste to bio-oil fuel. While wood pyrolysis has advanced to the commercial stage, existing pyrolysis plants are large and not optimized for processing landfill waste, which is highly variable in composition. Mainstream is developing a pyrolysis reactor with a unique design for better control over the process variables critical for processing a highly inhomogeneous feedstock. Measurements of pyrolysis kinetics have been performed to identify the pyrolysis rates for the primary constituents of the landfill waste, and those data were used for the reactor design. A bench-scale prototype reactor was constructed and tested with woody biomass, paper, and food waste. Samples of bio-oil were collected from the reactor, and the chemical and physical properties of the oil were also analyzed. Future plans include scale-up from a lab-scale prototype to a tractor trailer scale pilot plant.