Session: GT9.1 - Analytics & Digital Solutions and GT6.2 - Emerging Technologies (includes Wind Energy)

Paper Number: 160799

160799 - A Theoretical Study on the Gasification of Plastic Wastes for Electricity Generation Using a Gas Turbine Cycle 

The lack of a sustainable and clean method for the final disposal of plastic wastes has raised in significant waste management issues. This study explores gasification as a promising method for converting waste plastic into syngas (combustible gas) and solid carbon. Since storing syngas is challenging, this study integrates a gasifier with a gas turbine unit to convert syngas into easily transmissible electrical power. In this system, a portion of the compressed and preheated air from the gas turbine unit is directed to the gasifier for the gasification process. The remaining compressed and preheated air, along with the syngas produced in the gasifier, are then sent to the combustion vessel for combustion. The resulting hot gases are expanded in the gas turbine, and the turbine exhaust is used to preheat the incoming fresh air after compression. To evaluate the proposed system, a model is developed that includes air gasification of polypropylene (plastic waste), complete combustion of syngas, and the subsequent expansion of hot gases within a gas turbine cycle. The theoretical analysis is carried out at various values of moisture content of the plastic waste (0-40%), equivalence ratio (0.3-0.7), temperature of the preheated air used for gasification and combustion (60-85^oC), and compression ratio for compressing the input air (12-16). The parameters mentioned above are used to assess several critical factors, such as the lower heating value of the syngas, cold gas efficiency, carbon conversion efficiency of the gasification process, and the exergy efficiency of the plant. The results show that an increase in moisture content and compression ratio improves the exergy efficiency of the plant, which ranges from 68.86% to 76.74%. However, an increase in the equivalence ratio and compression ratio has been found to negatively affect the exergy efficiency of the plant, reducing it from 68.86% to 57.75%.

Presenting Author: Ranjan Das National Institute of Technology Agartala

Presenting Author Biography: Dr. Ranjan Das is currently working as a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the NIT Agartala, Tripura, India. He did Undergraduate degree from Bhavnagar University, Gujarat, India in 2003, M.Tech. from NIT Silchar, India in 2006 and subsequently received Ph.D. from IIT Guwahati, India in 2010. From June 2010-2011, he served Tezpur University, Assam, India as an Assistant Professor. Afterwards, as a post-doctoral research fellow from January-November 2012, he worked at the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering of NTU Singapore. From November 2012-May 2024, he worked as the levels of Assistant Professor and Associate Professor at IIT Ropar, Punjab, India. He has published over 200 research articles in various journals and conferences, successfully supervised 8 Ph.Ds, filed 4 patents and completed 5 projects. Since 2020, his name is continuously included among top 2% scientists in Stanford University’s world ranking database. Other notable recognitions of Prof. Das are Institute Silver Medal (2006) from NIT Silchar, outstanding reviewer awards from several reputed journals, securing best paper awards in several conferences, to name a few. His current research area involves a wide spectrum of engineering systems based on renewable energy resources, and development of environment friendly building air-conditioning systems.