Abstract
M.Ing. (Mechanical Engineering)
Energy in its different forms is an important asset to man‟s day-to-day activities from general house hold applications such as cooking and heating to large scale industrial applications such as power generation. However, the current reliance on fossil fuel based energy has become a central concern with respect to sustainable development. Fossil fuels are associated with greenhouse gas emissions and global warming which have been attributed to the dramatic weather and climate change patterns on the planet today posing significant threat to life e. There is, therefore, a need to find more sustainable sources of energy for the planet. Biomass based energy has been used by humanity as a primary source of energy long before the episode of fossil fuel usage. Harnessing of this form of energy has become of overwhelming interest largely due to global warming. It has also been realized that producing renewable energy locally can offer a viable alternative, and facilitate socio-economic development in communities as evidenced by several sustainable energy production projects around South Africa. Biomass contributes 14% of the World‟s primary energy supply. About 75% of its usage is in developing countries. In this work, the organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW) was quantified at a landfill site in Johannesburg. This was part of a wider project to produce biogas from municipal waste. The potential of that waste to produce syngas by thermal decompositions needs to be investigated as an alternative to anaerobic bio digestion. Furthermore, a bamboo species known as bambusa lacooa, which is currently being introduced for mine dumps rehabilitation in South Africa, was identified as a potential syngas production feedstock. If bamboo based mine dump rehabilitation succeeds, the economic value of the then widely available bamboo needs to be investigated. Production of syngas by pyrolysis becomes one such economic value chain. The aim of this work was therefore to investigate the optimum production of syngas from OFMSW and bamboo by pyrolysis. Specimens of these materials were prepared for thermal decomposition. Bamboo was categorised into wet and dry bamboo and dried in the sun for a period of 14 days. OFMSW made up of mixed food waste was collected from the waste dump landfill site and dried in the sun for a period of 24 hours. The candidate bio-waste materials were subjected to thermal decomposition in a specially designed pyrolysis reactor. Fumes produced during the thermal decomposition were collected at 100˚C temperature intervals from 0 ˚C to 700 ˚C. Dry bamboo produced the highest yield quality of syngas (24% - 23% quality) between 200 ˚C and 400 ˚C. Wet bamboo produced lower syngas yield quality than dry bamboo. The...