The synergistic effects of polyvinyl chloride and biomass during combustible solid waste pyrolysis: Experimental investigation and modeling

The synergistic effects of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and biomass were crucial for the pyrolysis of combustible municipal solid waste (CMSW). In this study, a Thermogravimetric analyzer-Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectrometer (TG-FTIR) was employed for experimental verification of the synergistic effects of (PVC) and the biomass in CMSW during pyrolysis, and a Weibull distribution-based model was established to comprehensively analyze the variation in the synergistic effects. The TG-FTIR results showed that the mass loss of separate CMSW compounds occurred mainly between 210 °C and 526 °C, while under the synergistic effects, the solid residue of CMSW increased from 12.0 wt% to 25.0 wt%. Additionally, the experimental results confirmed that the synergistic effects could make the overall pyrolysis of cellulose and hemicellulose happen earlier and increased the solid residual rate of lignin. The prediction of the Weibull distribution-based model was in good agreement with the experimental results. The synergistic effects were quantified by the parameters of the model and further distinguished into different reaction stages. The model described the synergistic effects using three aspects: the reaction degree, scale and efficiency. The characterization of the Weibull distribution-based model enabled us to obtain additional information about the synergistic effects, which were not attainable from the results of the conventional experimental analysis.