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U.S. Department of Energy
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Advanced system experimental facility: solid waste to methane gas. Background and process description

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6075024· OSTI ID:6075024
The Refuse Conversion to Methane Facility in Pompano Beach, Florida, a 100-ton/day experimental plant to convert municipal solid waste (MSW) to methane for fuel, has been built and is being tested. The facility has been designed to assess the technical merit of anaerobic digestion of the MSW process. Approximately 40 ton/day of volatile solids are fed to the digesters; of this, about 25 ton/day will be converted to gases. For each pound of volatile solids destroyed, 6.6 std. ft/sup 3/ of methane gas and 6.6 std. ft/sup 3/ of CO/sub 2/ will be produced. Thus, the plant will yield approximately 330,000 std. ft/sup 3//day each of methane and CO/sub 2/. This project provides a critical test of the most important process variables, thus allowing judgments to be made on scale-up considerations. The successful operation of this facility will yield information with a significant impact on potential commercial-scale plant developments. The background and theory involved in applying this technology to MSW, as well as details of the specific process line, are presented.
Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
W-31109-ENG-38
OSTI ID:
6075024
Report Number(s):
ANL/CNSV-22; ON: DE81030198
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English