(2024) Energy_Sustainable syngas production from thermochemical processing of cellulosic textile waste in the presence of CO₂

Lee S.; Lee T.; Lee D.; Tsang Y.F.; Kwon E.E.

(Elsevier Ltd) Energy ISSN: 3605442 Vol.311 Issue. Article No.133483 DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2024.133483

In response to ever-expanding textile industry, substantial generation in clothing waste has posed the environmental risks caused by conventional treatments. As an alternative approach, this study aims to establish pyrolytic valorisation of cellulosic textile waste. To impart sustainability to the pyrolysis system, a novel approach was proposed by employing carbon dioxide (CO₂), key greenhouse gas, as reactive feedstock. This study mainly investigated mechanical function of carbon dioxide on all pyrogenic products derived from cellulosic textile waste. Remarkably, CO₂ interacted with volatile pyrogenic products and transformed them into carbon monoxide (CO). CO₂ led to 0.82 times reduction of carbohydrate compounds and 1.18 times increase of CO, in reference to the results from N2. To further enhance the identified reactivity of CO₂, the established experimental setup was modified by installing an additional furnace (isothermally heated at 600 °C) and a nickel catalyst (5 wt% Ni/Al₂O₃). Consequently, CO production from the proposed catalytic pyrolysis increased by 2.01 times. The findings demonstrate that introducing CO₂ to the pyrolysis system contributed to the improvement of carbon utilisation efficiency in the form of CO. Therefore, this study offers a framework highlighting technical reliability of carbon dioxide-assisted pyrolysis system for promoting environmental sustainability and resource recovery. © 2024 Elsevier Ltd

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean Government (MSIT) (Grant No. NRF-2023R1A2C3003011). This work was also supported by the Basic Science Research Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Ministry of Education (Grant No. RS-2023-00274658).