Bioresource Technology 178 (2015) 70–75

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Bioresource Technology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biortech

Pyrolysis of activated sludge: Energy analysis and its technical feasibility

Manu Agarwal a,b,c, James Tardio b, S. Venkata Mohan a,⇑
a
Bioengineering and Environmental Sciences (BEES), CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT), Hyderabad 500 007, India
b
School of Applied Science, College of Science, Engineering & Health, RMIT, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia
c
RMIT-IICT Research Centre, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT), Hyderabad 500 007, India

h i g h l i g h t s

 Activated sludge is a potent source of renewable energy.

 Pyrolysis of activated sludge can produce 478.3 kWh/T electrical energy.
3
 Pyrolysis of activated sludge can produce 31.238 m /T bio-gas.
 A full scale commercial process is a potent alternative energy technology.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A comprehensive study on the potential of pyrolysis of activated sludge to generate substances that can
Received 17 July 2014 be used to produce energy was evaluated for its technical and environmental viability. The products of
Received in revised form 24 September 2014 the process viz., pyrolysis gas, pyrolysis oil and char can readily be used by the major energy consumers
Accepted 26 September 2014
viz., electricity and transportation. Based on the results obtained it is estimated that a 1 ton capacity pro-
Available online 14 October 2014
cess for pyrolysis of activated sludge can serve the electrical needs of a maximum of 239, 95 and 47
Indian houses per day, considering lower middle class, middle class and upper middle class, respectively.
Keywords:
In addition the process would also produce the daily methane (CNG) requirement of 128 public transport
Electrical power
Hydrogen
buses. The process was determined to be technically feasible at low and medium temperatures for both,
Methane pyrolysis gas and electrical energy. The gas generated could be utilized as fuel directly while the oil gen-
Char erated would require pretreatment before its potential application. The process is potentially sustainable
Biorefinery when commercialized and can self-sustain in continuous mode of operation in biorefinery context.
Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction (Nipattummakul et al., 2010) and supercritical water oxidation

(Mahmood and Elliott, 2006) the aforementioned processes are
It is estimated that in India, all the class I cities and class II either energy demanding and/or have a negative impact on air
towns together generate 29.129  109 L/day of sewage out of quality.
which only 21.3% is actually treated in a sewage treatment plant During the year 2013–14, though the power generation capac-
(STP). The main processes used in these plants are the activated ity was enhanced by 7.36% over the last year due to the increase
sludge process (ASP) and up-flow sludge blanket technology in electrical power requirement in India by 5.05% the deficiency
(USAB), whilst other processes that are used to a lesser degree was about 6.7% (CEA, 2013-14). Almost 65% of the total electrical
include aerobic reactors, trickling filters and stabilization ponds power produced is from thermal power stations (CEA, 2011) which
(CPCB, 2005a). Also it is known that 559.77  106 L/day of effluent are reliant on coal reserves. Moreover the number of automobiles
is treated in 88 common effluent treatment plants (CETP) in India in India has increased by almost 3 times in 10 years with private
(CPCB, 2005b). This results in generation of large quantities of aer- vehicles being top in the list (MRTH, 2012) which has led to
obic sludge leading to handling and disposal problems. Though increased demand for crude oil. The increased usage of fossil fuels
several sludge treatment technologies are available such as micro- as source of energy may lead to their near end by 2050 (Shafiee and
wave irradiation (Tyagi and Lo, 2013), incineration (Murakami Topal, 2009). In addition combustion of fossil fuels, releases large
et al., 2009), combustion (Urciuolo et al., 2012), gasification amounts of GHGs which adversely affect the environment.
The topic of this study, the conversion of sludge waste into
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel./fax: +91 40 27191664. readily usable source of energy, has the potential to become a
E-mail address: [email protected] (S. Venkata Mohan). renewable source of energy that can help meet future increases

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2014.09.134
0960-8524/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 M. Agarwal et al. / Bioresource Technology 178 (2015) 70–75 71

in energy demands. A comprehensive energy analysis based on the 2.2. Experimental methodology
yields of products generated in pyrolysis of activated sludge has
been reported earlier (Agarwal et al., 2014) to understand the Energy analysis was performed using the results obtained from
potential of sludge to be utilized as a source of renewable energy studies we reported in a previous paper (Agarwal et al., 2014). The
and the practicability of the pyrolysis process towards technical results of this energy analysis were used to develop an operating
and environmental viability in Indian context. strategy i.e., which pyrolysis product would be suitable as the
source of energy for the pyrolysis process (gas or steam (generated
from char)) and understand the practical feasibility of the process
2. Methods (is net energy generated or lost). The quantity of activated sludge
assumed for the analysis was one metric ton. The pyrolysis gas
2.1. Reactor setup and operation and pyrolysis oil were the value added products while the energy
content in solid residue (char) was presumed to be boiler fuel for
The experiments were carried out in nitrogen rich atmosphere steam generation. The steam could be used as a heating source
in a pyrolysis reactor on batch mode basis. A fixed amount of dry for the pyrolysis process and/or to produce electrical energy. When
activated sludge (10 g) sample was packed in the reactor and the energy requirement is extracted through steam produced from
purged with pure nitrogen gas for 2 min. The reactor with the the char the system was outlined as Scheme-1 and when the
waste was then heated at a rate of 12 K/min. The decomposition energy requirement is extracted through pyrolysis gas the system
of sludge was evaluated at various temperatures (673 K, 773 K, was outlined as Scheme-2 (Fig. 1).
873 K and 1073 K) and retention time (60 min, 120 min and
180 min). The volatile substances evolved during pyrolysis were 2.2.1. Energy requirement
passed through ice-bath condenser to separate the condensable The energy required for the process to reach the specified tem-
gases from the non-condensable ones (Agarwal et al., 2013a). perature was calculated based on the specific heat of the activated

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of process [Scheme-1 – energy requirement extracted through steam produced from the char; Scheme-2 – energy requirement extracted from the
gas].
72 M. Agarwal et al. / Bioresource Technology 178 (2015) 70–75

sludge. The energy required to maintain the temperature was 2.3. Analysis
based on the heat loss when the surroundings were maintained
at 303 K. The specific heat of activated sludge was assumed to be The volume of gas evolved from pyrolysis was measured
2 kJ/kg. The sludge was solar dried and hence the energy required through water displacement technique. The composition of gas
for drying was not considered. Also the cyclone separator (shown was evaluated by gas chromatograph (NUCON 5765) using a ther-
in Fig. 1) consumes 0.87 Wh/Nm3 of energy on an average mal conductivity detector (TCD) with 1/800  2 m Heysep Q column
(European IPPC Bureau, 2003). The energy consumed by the CO2 employing nitrogen as carrier gas. The injector and detector were
scrubber was assumed to be around 15% of the energy output. maintained at 60 °C and the oven was operated at 40 °C isother-
mally. The gas was quantified with the calibration gas supplied
2.2.2. Energy output by Spangas & Equipments Ltd., Navi Mumbai, India. The pyrolysis
Three products viz, pyrolysis gas, pyrolysis oil and char were the oil and char were collected at the end of the experiment and were
outputs of the process. The pyrolysis gas produced (free from CO2) quantified.
can be used as fuel. The energy content in this gas was calculated
by substituting the hydrogen and methane fraction in Eq. (1):
3. Results and discussion
Egas ¼ V gas  ð10:7  H þ 35:88  MÞ ð1Þ
3.1. Net utilizable energy from pyrolysis at different process
where Egas = net energy content in pyrolysis gas (free from CO2)
temperatures
(MJ), Vgas = volume of pyrolysis gas produced (free from CO2)
(m3), H and M are mole fractions of H2 and CH4 in pyrolysis gas (free
3.1.1. Pyrolysis at 673 K
from CO2), respectively.
The net utilizable energy from pyrolysis of activated sludge at
The pyrolysis oil could be refined before appropriate use. The
673 K at three different retention times (60 min, 120 min,
net calorific energy available in char was calculated based on its
180 min) was estimated. The energy required for heating was cal-
CHNS data and Eq. (2):
culated based on the specific heat of the sludge. The quantity of
Echar ¼ W char  ð32:8  C þ 121  H þ 2:371  N þ 9:163  SÞ ð2Þ heat required was found to increase with retention time (Fig. 2)
and the values are tabulated (Table 1). The energy content (Table 2)
where Echar = net energy content in char (MJ), Wchar = mass of char
in the gas improved by 1.17 times from 60 min to 120 min and by
(kg), C, H, N, S is the weight fractions of C, H, N, S in char
1.32 times from 120 min to 180 min. Considering the steam prop-
The energy content in the char could be extracted in the form of
erties at 673 K and 40 bar, the amount of steam produced (assum-
steam hence; the total quantity of steam that could be produced
ing that the char produced is used as boiler fuel) varied from
from char (boiler fuel) was calculated using Eq. (3). The steam pres-
1573 kg to 1426 kg.
sure at 673 K, 773 K and 873 K were assumed to be 40 bar, 100 bar
As observed in Fig. 2, the energy calculated to produced in the
and 60 bar respectively. The enthalpy of the steam can be calculated
form of pyrolysis gas was insufficient for it to be the stand alone
from the steam tables at the specific temperature and pressure.
source of energy to run the pyrolysis process. There is however suf-
Echar  gb ficient energy contained in the char produced hence the energy
ms ¼ ð3Þ
ðhs  hw Þ required can be extracted from the char (which can be used to pro-
duce steam (Scheme-1)). Based on the operating strategy of Scheme-
where ms = mass of steam produced (kg), Echar = net energy content
1, the electrical power calculated varied from 392 kWh to 478 kWh
in char (MJ), gb = boiler efficiency (85%), hs = enthalpy of steam at
over the range of retention times considered. Deducting the energy
required temperature and pressure (MJ/kg), hw = enthalpy of water
consumed by the cyclone separator (1.3–2.0 kWh) and scrubber
(0.4174 MJ/kg).
(58.8–71.7 kWh), the net electrical power available would vary from
The amount of steam required for heating was calculated from
331.5 kWh to 405 kWh. A similar analysis done with cellulosic
Eq. (4):
municipal solid waste as feed stock for pyrolysis process showed a
Q req slightly higher electrical power production (Agarwal et al., 2013b).
mreq
s ¼ ð4Þ
hs There are several other processes over which the energy analysis is
done such as anaerobic digestion of organic fraction of municipal
where mreq
s = mass of steam required for heating (kg), Qreq = energy
solid waste. The energy potential is reported in form of hydrogen
required for heating (MJ), hs = Enthalpy of steam at required tem-
and methane produced through batch and continuous mode of
perature and pressure (MJ/kg).
operation (Escamilla-Alvarado et al., 2014).
The electrical energy produced through steam turbine could be
calculated from Eq. (5):
mnet  ðhs  hw Þ  gt  ggen 3.1.2. Pyrolysis at 773 K
s
Ee ¼ ð5Þ The net utilizable energy from pyrolysis of activated sludge at
3:6
773 K at three different retention times (60 min, 120 min,
where Ee = electrical energy produced (kWh), mnet s = net mass of
180 min) was estimated. The quantity of heat required was found
steam available for electrical energy (kg), hs = enthalpy of steam at
to be higher (60 min, 29.14%; 120 min, 27.02%; 180 min, 26.21%)
required temperature and pressure (MJ/kg), hw = enthalpy of water
than that at 673 K and was found to improve constantly with reten-
(0.4174 MJ/kg), gt = Efficiency of condensation type steam turbine
tion time (Fig. 2). The calculated values are depicted in Table 1. The
(50%), ggen = Efficiency of electrical generator (95%).
energy content (Table 2) in the gas improved by 42.38% from 60 min
Since, the pyrolysis gas contains hydrogen and methane; it can
to 120 min and by 5.29% from 120 min to 180 min. The energy con-
be utilized as fuel for heating. The amount of pyrolysis gas required
tent in gas dramatically improved when compared to 673 K (60 min,
for heating was calculated from Eq. (6).
7.09 times; 120 min, 8.6 times; and 180 min, 6.82 times). Consider-
Q req ing the steam properties at 773 K and 100 bar, the amount of steam
V gas ¼ ð6Þ
10:7  H þ 35:88  M produced (assuming that the char produced is used as boiler fuel)
where Vgas = volume of gas required (m3), Qreq = quantity of heat varied from 1458 kg to 1259 kg.
required (MJ), H and M are mole fractions of H2 and CH4 in the The energy content (Fig. 2) in the pyrolysis gas produced
gas, respectively. from sludge at 773 K was less than that required for the process
 M. Agarwal et al. / Bioresource Technology 178 (2015) 70–75 73

consumed by cyclone separator (10.8–15.1 Wh) and CO2 scrubber

(48.1–65.4 kWh) would range from 272.8 kWh to 370.5 kWh.

3.1.3. Pyrolysis at 873 K

The net utilizable energy from pyrolysis of activated sludge at
773 K for three different retention times (60 min, 120 min,
180 min) was estimated (Table 1). The heat energy required was
superior to both at 673 K (60 min, 57.9%; 120 min, 54.05%;
180 min, 52.09%) and 773 K (60 min, 22.27%; 120 min, 21.27%;
180 min, 20.49%) and constantly increased with time (Fig. 2). The
energy output in form of gas was observed to be directly propor-
tional with time (120 min, 9.87%; 180 min, 26.88%). The average
output energy in form of gas was observed to be 14.32 times and
1.92 times higher than 673 K and 773 K, respectively. Considering
the steam properties at 873 K and 40 bar, the amount of steam pro-
duced (when char produced being used as boiler fuel) varied from
1272 kg to 1047 kg.
Based on the energy content calculated (Fig. 2) in the pyrolysis
gas, the energy being less than the required made it insufficient to
serve as source of energy to run the pyrolysis process. There is
however sufficient energy contained in the char produced hence
the energy required can be extracted from the char (which can
be used to produce steam (Scheme-1)). The calculation of electrical
energy generated from pyrolysis of activated sludge based on
Scheme-1, had a minor variation as compared to the discussion
in the previous section. The steam properties for it be served as
heating source are 873 K and 40 bar while that for steam to pro-
duce electrical energy was 773 K and 100 bar. Based on the process
to be operated according to Scheme-1, the electrical power gener-
ated varies from 241 kWh to 380 kWh. The net electrical power
after subtracting energy used by downstream equipments (cyclone
separator: 23–27.1 Wh, CO2 scrubber: 36.1–57 kWh) vary from
202.2 kWh to 320.7 kWh.

3.1.4. Pyrolysis at 1073 K

The net utilizable energy from pyrolysis of activated sludge at
1073 K at three different retention times (60 min, 120 min,
180 min) was estimated. The gas yield was highest at 1073 K and
also improved with retention time (60 min, 43.95 m3/T; 120 min,
50.88 m3/T; 180 min, 58.64 m3/T) yet always remained insufficient
to serve as a sole source of energy for the pyrolysis process (Fig. 2,
Table 3). The operating temperature being very high essentially
required gas (the maximum temperature that can be obtained with
steam is 873 K) as heating source but its insufficiency made the
process less feasible in the technical point of view. In contrary to
this the process with cellulosic municipal solid waste was reported
Fig. 2. Comparison between energy available and required with the function of feasible at 1073 K (Agarwal et al., 2013b).
experimental variations studied [(a) 60 min; (b) 120 min; (c) 180 min].

3.2. Evaluation of optimum condition

however the energy contained in the char produced was sufficient
hence the energy required can be extracted from the char (which 3.2.1. Electrical energy
can be used to produce steam (Scheme-1)). Based on the operating A general hypothesis is that the electrical energy can be maxi-
strategy of Scheme-1, the electrical power calculated varied from mized if all the steam produced is fed to steam turbine and the
321 kWh to 436 kWh over the range of retention times considered. energy required for heating is harnessed from bio-gas. However,
The net electrical power produced after subtracting the energy this hypothesis fails for extraction of fuel and power from pyrolysis
of activated sludge making Scheme-1 the only favorable process.
The electrical energy produced was observed to be inversely pro-
portional to both time (60 min, 478.3 kWh; 120 min, 459.7 kWh;
Table 1 180 min, 392.6 kWh at 673 K) and temperature (673 K,
Input energy required in form of heat for the pyrolysis process (MJ/T). 478.3 kWh; 773 K, 436.4 kWh; 873 K, 380.2 kWh). The maximum
Retention time (min) Temperature (K) electrical energy (478.3 kWh) is produced at 673 K in 60 min.
The number of houses receiving power from 1 TPD activated
673 773 873 1073
sludge pyrolysis plant were calculated (Table 4), assuming the
60 888.00 1146.80 1402.20 1817.20 per capita consumption of electricity of lower middle class, middle
120 1036.00 1316.00 1596.00 2063.60
180 1161.80 1466.40 1767.00 2279.20
class and upper class family to be 2, 5 and 10 kWh/day. The num-
ber of lower middle class houses that could be supported vary from
74 M. Agarwal et al. / Bioresource Technology 178 (2015) 70–75

Table 2
Products of activated sludge pyrolysis (1 ton basis) at low and medium temperature with char as input energy source (Scheme-1).

Retention Temperature Products Steam Char utilized Net char Steam produced from Available energy
time (K) required for for heating available char for electrical power
Pyrolysis Pyrolysis Char Energy Electrical
(min) heating (kg) (kg) (kg) (kg)
gas oil (l) (kg) in gas power
(Nm3) (MJ) produced
(kWh)
60 673 1.495 320 353 276.377 62.016 290.984 1296.781 34.971 478.3
773 12.453 400 352 339.893 82.020 269.980 1118.803 248.145 436.4
873 26.465 400 350 383.324 105.420 244.580 974.743 546.368 380.2
120 673 1.765 350 352 322.440 72.352 279.648 1246.262 41.037 459.7
773 16.577 400 331 390.041 94.121 236.879 981.630 353.313 382.9
873 28.318 450 330 436.303 119.990 210.010 836.967 600.338 326.5
180 673 2.362 400 320 361.593 81.138 238.862 1064.499 54.477 392.6
773 17.367 450 304 434.617 104.880 199.122 825.165 372.024 321.9
873 31.238 600 288 483.050 132.850 155.152 618.343 693.274 241.2

Table 3
or bio-hydrogen and bio-methane can be separated and utilized as
Products of activated sludge pyrolysis (1 ton basis) at high temperature with pyrolysis raw material for chemical synthesis.
gas as input energy source (Scheme-2).

Temperature Retention Products Pyrolysis gas 3.2.2.1. Methane. On an average each bus used by Andhra Pradesh
(K) time required for state road transport corporation (APSRTC) consumes 80 kg meth-
Pyrolysis Pyrolysis Char
(min) heating (m3) ane per day (111 LPD) (The Hindu, 2013). Based on this, the num-
gas (m3) oil (l) (kg)
ber of buses receiving fuel from a 1 TPD pyrolysis plant of activated
773 60 12.453 400 352 57.546
120 16.577 400 331 61.742
sludge was calculated for all possible operation conditions
180 17.367 450 304 68.453 (Table 5). The number of buses that would be supported vary from
873 60 26.465 400 350 67.918
6 (673 K, 60 min) to 128 (873 K, 180 min). Similarly considering
120 28.318 450 330 75.281 that on an average an auto-rickshaw requires 6.5 kg methane per
180 31.238 600 288 79.620 day (8.36 LPD) (200 km/day with a mileage of 30 km/kg). The
1073 60 43.956 450 346 84.604 number of such vehicles can vary from 90 (673 K, 60 min) to
120 50.882 550 270 96.117 1705 (873 K, 180 min) every day.
180 58.640 470 269 98.525

3.2.2.2. Hydrogen. Hydrogen is accepted as a fuel of future with

zero emissions. The by-product is pure water with energy in form
Table 4 of heat or electricity. The various applications of hydrogen can be
Variation in number of houses dependent on pyrolysis (Scheme-1) of 1 ton of broadly classified into either energy fuel or chemical synthesis.
activated sludge for electricity.
The fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) (Kelly et al., 2011), bi-fuel gen-
Retention time Temperature No. of houses supported (H/D) erators (Sainz et al., 2011), bi-fuel engines (Senthil Kumar et al.,
(min) (K) 2003; Verhelst et al., 2009), residential applications (Kazempoor
Lower middle Middle Upper
classa classb classc et al., 2009) fall in the category of energy applications while hydro-
60 673 239 95 47 genation of oils (Jianhua et al., 2012), ammonia synthesis by
773 218 87 43 Haber’s process, fertilizer production in chemical synthesis.
873 190 76 38
120 673 229 91 45 3.2.3. Pyrolysis oil
773 191 76 38
The pyrolysis oil yield was directly proportional to both time
873 163 65 32
(60 min, 320 L; 120 min, 350 L; 180 min, 400 L at 673 K) and tem-
180 673 196 78 39
perature (673 K, 350 L; 120 min, 400 L; 180 min, 450 L in 120 min).
773 160 64 32
873 120 48 24
a Table 5
Lower middle class consume 2 kWh/(house/day).
b Variations in number of vehicles receiving bio-methane from pyrolysis (Scheme-1) of
Middle class consume 5 kWh/(house/day).
c 1 ton of activated sludge.
Upper class consume 10 kWh/(house/day).

Retention time Temperature Methane No. of vehicles supported

(min) (K) (m3)
Buses per Auto-rickshaw
120 (873 K, 180 min) to 239 (673 K, 60 min) while the middle class
daya per dayb
vary from 48 (873 K, 180 min) to 95 (673 K, 60 min).
60 673 0.754 6 90
773 4.564 41 545
3.2.2. Pyrolysis gas 873 10.453 94 1250
It is an effortless assumption that the net bio-gas yield can be 120 673 0.880 7 105
maximized if the heat energy is supplied to the process through 773 6.988 62 835
steam. Thus the process is most favorable at 873 K when operated 873 11.809 106 1412

for 180 min (31.238 m3). The bio-gas yield was observed to be 180 673 1.202 10 143
directly proportional to both time (60 min, 12.453 m3; 120 min, 773 7.395 66 884
873 14.258 128 1705
16.577 m3; 180 min, 17.367 m3 at 773 K) and temperature
(673 K, 1.765 m3; 773 K, 16.577 m3; 873 K, 28.318 m3). The bio- a
On an average APSRTC bus consumes 111 L methane per day.
b
gas has a direct application as fuel for internal combustion engine On an average Auto-rickshaw consumes 8.36 L methane per day.
 M. Agarwal et al. / Bioresource Technology 178 (2015) 70–75 75

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