Enhanced hydrogen production in co-gasification of sewage sludge and industrial wastewater sludge by a pilot-scale fluidized bed gasifier.

This research provides a perspective on sludge-to-energy using sewage sludge (SS) and industrial wastewater sludge (IS) co-gasification in a pilot-scale fluidized bed gasifier with temperature controlled at (600–800 °C) using IS addition ratio (0%–60%), and steam-to-biomass ratio (S/B) (0–1.0). The experimental results show that the increase in thermal reaction activity occurred in concordance with the increase in the IS addition. The explanation for such phenomena is that relatively high catalytic Fe/Mn content in industrial wastewater sludge could lower the activation energy. Hydrogen production was increased from 9.1% to 11.94% with an increase in industrial wastewater sludge ratios from 0% to 60%. The produced gas heating value ranged from 4.84 MJ/Nm3 to 5.11 MJ/Nm3, which was coupled with the cold gas efficiency (CGE) ranging from 33.91% to 36.15%. Enhanced hydrogen production in sewage sludge and industrial wastewater sludge co-gasification is investigated in this study. • Sludge-to-energy using co-gasification has successfully developed. • Relatively high catalytic Fe/Mn content in sludge could lower the activation energy. • Hydrogen yield was increased with the industrial wastewater sludge addition increasing. • The produced gas heating value was ranged from 4.84 MJ/Nm3 to 5.11 MJ/Nm3. • The insight into enhanced syngas yield in co-sludge gasification was provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]