DOI: https://doi.org/10.14710/ijred.2021.33834

Co-pelletization of Industrial Sewage Sludge and Rice Straw: Characteristics and Economic Analysis

1Rattanakosin College for Sustainable Energy and Environment (RCSEE), Rajamangala University of Technology Rattanakosin, 96 Moo 3 Phutthamonthon Sai 5 Rd., Salaya, Phutthamonthon, Nakhon Pathom, 73170, Thailand

2Faculty of Science, King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang, Chalongkrung Rd., Ladkrabang, Bangkok 10520,, Thailand

Received: 30 Oct 2020; Revised: 27 Feb 2021; Accepted: 1 Apr 2021; Available online: 15 Apr 2021; Published: 1 Aug 2021.
Editor(s): Rock Keey Liew
Open Access Copyright (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Centre of Biomass and Renewable Energy (CBIORE)
Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Abstract
The disposal of industrial sewage sludge is one of the most serious environmental problems in Thailand. Moreover, the disposal expense is considered as the production cost to the manufacturer. Therefore, the concept of waste-to-energy technology (WTE) is applied to solve this problem. This study aimed to study the effect of sewage sludge and rice straw proportions on the properties of co-pellets. Here, the production of co-pelleted sewage sludge from the canned food industry, combined with biomass (rice straw), was performed using a lab-scale pelletization machine. The pellets consisted of sewage sludge (SS) and rice straw (RS) with sewage sludge ratios of RS100:SS0, RS50:SS50, RS35:SS65, RS25:SS75, and RS0:SS100. The co-pellets produced were characterized for physicochemical properties and calorific heating values. In addition, the benefit to cost ratio (B/C), internal rate of return (IRR), and payback period (PB) from the utilization of co-pellets were studied. The results suggest that the proportion of sewage sludge affects the properties of the co-pellets. The optimum sewage sludge to rice straw ratio at RS0:SS100 is considered to have good fuel combustion properties. It is suitable for the production of co-pellets because of its high volatility and low ash slagging content
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Keywords: co-pellets; biomass; economic analysis; sewage sludge; waste to energy

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Section: Original Research Article
Language : EN
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