Carpet As An Alternative Fuel in Cement Kilns
Approximately 5 billion lbs of carpet will be removed from buildings in the US each year for the foreseeable future. This carpet is potentially a valuable resource because it contains plastic in the face of the carpet that can be re-used. However, there are many different types of carpet, and at least four major different plastics used to make the face. The face is woven through a backing fabric and held in place by a “glue” that is in most cases a latex cross-linked polymer which is heavily loaded with chalk (calcium carbonate). This backing has almost no value as a recycled material. In addition, carpet is a bulky material that is difficult to handle and ship and must be kept dry. It would be of significant benefit to the public if this stream of material could be kept out of landfills and some of its potential value unlocked by having high volume alternatives for recycled carpet use. The research question that this project investigated was whether carpet could be used as a fuel in a cement kiln. If this could be done successfully, there is significant capacity in the US cement industry to absorb carpet and use it as a fuel. Cement kilns could serve as a way to stimulate carpet collection and then side streams be taken for higher value uses. The research demonstrated that carpet was technically a suitable fuel, but was unable to conclude that the overall system could be economically feasible at this time with the constraints placed on the project by using an existing system for feeding the kiln. Collection and transportation were relatively straightforward, using an existing collector who had the capacity to collect high volumes of material. The shredding of the carpet into a suitable form for feeding was more challenging, but these problems were successfully overcome. The feeding of the carpet into the kiln was not successfully carried out reliably. The overall economics were not positive under the prevailing conditions of costs for transportation and size reduction.
- Research Organization:
- Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta, GA
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT) - (EE-20)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC02-04CH11239
- OSTI ID:
- 907920
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/CH/11239-Final; TRN: US200722%%380
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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