American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 1 Non-Isothermal Pyrolysis Kinetics of Municipal Solid Wastes Henry J. Molintas 1 and Ashwani K. Gupta 2 University of Maryland, Department of Mechanical Engineering, College Park, MD 20742 Energy conversion via the pyrolysis of municipal solid waste is now considered as one of the key drivers to achieve a sustainable source of energy for an ever-increasing global economic growth among developed and developing nations. This study focuses on the effects of non-isothermal reactor temperatures, heating rates and initial weight of several key components in the solid waste materials, such as, surrogate paper, cardboard, and plastic under pyrolysis conditions. Pyrolysis kinetic rates are determined under various conditions using nearly identical initial weight of surrogate solid waste materials between 4 to 5 grams at atmospheric pressure. Waste samples are confined inside cylindrical stainless-steel containers that feature small openings to release non-condensable and condensable gases during pyrolysis conditions. The outside surfaces of the cylindrical containers are heated non-isothermally in a laminar flow reactor using products from the stoichiometric combustion of propane and air. The reactor temperatures during the pyrolysis experiments were maintained non- isothermally between 100 to 750 o C. Experimental results obtained on the non-isothermal pyrolysis kinetics of MSW are presented in this paper. The results showed a strong correlation between the severity of pyrolysis with overall conversion value, the multiplicity of gas released at different conditions and the amounts of gases released during pyrolysis. The non- isothermal kinetics behavior of polyethylene plastic, paper and cardboard with nearly identical heating rate at 40 o C/min indicated that release of pyrolysis gases start sooner for paper as compared to cardboard, polyethylene and plastic. Increase in pyrolysis temperatures showed that the pyrolysis gases are released first from paper followed by cardboard and then low density polyethylene. I. Introduction uch recently, developed countries around the world are collaborating together to plan and develop a long term engineering concept that can sustain the energy driven global economic growth that will also provide a near zero environmental impact 1 . The vision of this new strategy is expected to spur innovative solutions that will further push the envelope of state-of-the-art technology of conventional thermal waste treatments processing systems. One possible solution that can significantly achieve long term energy sustainability with a near zero environmental impact is the pyrolysis of municipal solid wastes (MSW). The efficient energy conversion of rural or urban waste and biomass in the form of synthesis gases (syngas) or liquid fuels through pyrolysis is considered a revolutionary and deployable engineering solution that could help achieve these noble plans. Clean syngas and high energy density liquid fuels from the pyrolysis of municipal waste and biomass are promising eco-friendly alternative and renewable energy resource for power plants, gas engines or combined cycle 1 Graduate Student, E-mail: molintas@umd.edu 2 Distinguished University Professor , E-mail: akgupta@umd.edu M