NSF Award
9983559
This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project will demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of the Slurry Carbonization process in generating an improved fuel product from low grade Municipal Sewage Sludge (MSS). Approximately 7.8 million dry tons of MSS are generated each year in the U.S. as a byproduct of municipal waste water treatment. MSS management is a growing concern due to the increase in generated volumes of sludge, demand for lower pollutant discharges, and rise in disposal costs. Slurry Carbonization is a moderate temperature and pressure treatment, which removes oxygen functional groups from the MSS and produces a homogeneous, carbon-hydrogen enriched char product for co-combustion or reburning in suspension-fired coal boilers.<br/><br/>The overall objective of Phase II research is to develop the scientific and engineering data necessary to design, build and operate a demonstration facility in Phase III scale-up. Phase II research will focus on bench-scale optimization using EnerTech's 2.2 gal/hr PDU and pilot-scale engineering studies using HTI's 510 lb/hr PDU. Pilot-scale combustion and reburning experiments then will be conducted in EER's 1.0 MM Btu/hr BSF. It is anticipated that Phase II research will establish Slurry Carbonization as an economically and environmentally desirable method of MSS utilization. In addition to treatment of MSS, other applications of EnerTech's Slurry Carbonization process technology include clean coal combustion and the production of homogeneous slurry fuels from industrial sludge, pulp and paper mill wastes, Kraft mill black liquor, MSW, RDF, wood wastes and other sources of renewable biomass.
