Paper Title
Production of Biochar from Organic Solid Waste by Pyrolysis for Global Climate Change Mitigation
Abstract
The open dumping of municipal solid waste and soil mainly contributes to greenhouse gaseous emissions of methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere which significantly adds to the global warming. This can be addressed by biochar production from organic solid waste, which is becoming a sustainable solution for solid waste management and climate change mitigation. In the present study, the raw material for biochar production was collected from a hostel mess kitchen waste (uncooked). The advantageous thermo-chemical conversion method of pyrolysis process was adopted for biochar production. The slow pyrolysis technique operating conditions of 300°C at a residence time of one hour with 10°C heating rate was conductedto achieve a higher biochar yield in the study. The different parameters characterised were pH, electrical conductivity, proximate analysis, FTIR, nutrients & heavy metals (Al, Ba, Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Pb, K, Na and Hg), total organic carbon (TOC) content and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The physico-chemical properties of raw material (i.e. hostel mess kitchen waste) and pyrolysis byproduct biochar were compared for emphasizing their various sustainable applications. The results showed that the raw material kitchen waste contained20.2 ± 3.9% of TS in which 79.6 ± 2.7% of volatile solids content. The biochar yield in the study was about 40.5 ±0.71%. The pH of the biochar was in alkaline condition (pH – 8.0) and has presence of many heavy metals. The FTIR revealed the functional groups available in waste and biochar. The presence of PAH content was shown in samples.The obtained biochar will further subjected to soil studies for greenhouse gas emission reduction.
Keywords - Municipal Solid Waste; Biochar; Slow Pyrolysis; Climate Change Mitigation; Physico-Chemical Parameters