Process Safety and Environmental Protection, Vol.109, 140-150, 2017
A novel methodology to characterize and to valorize a waste by a fractionation technology
This work presents a solution of a problematic waste generated by a local industry. It provides a novelty fractionation methodology for the transformation of a worthless waste into higher value fractions. Besides, this methodology can be applied to other agricultural and forest wastes for an efficient management and use of resources. The waste is composed by a mix of different agroindustrial waste and due to its high organic character it cannot be field deposited. Therefore, a detailed characterization of the waste by fractionation in simpler fractions have been performed with the aim to optimize its use and to propose different application for them. The suggest uses of each fraction increase the added value of the waste and display significant environmental impact improvements of the waste. For example, the fraction obtained from acid hydrolysis (around 30%) present a high calorific value, conferring good properties to be used as fuel. (c) 2017 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords:Agroindustrial waste;Breaking-up;Renewable agrowaste;Resource;Thermogravimetric analysis;Valorization