Development of a sewage sludge waste containing microplastics pyrolysis plant for sustainable hydrogen, syngas and high quality pyrolytic char production

污水污泥主要是水与固体（有机和无机）的结合，在废水处理过程中通过物理化学过程（沉降/过滤）去除。由于废水处理厂的排放要求日益严格，以及发展中国家建设更多废水处理厂，预计未来全球污水污泥数量将大幅增加。污泥产量的增加需要经济且环境可持续的处理工艺。污泥处置/处理具有挑战性，不仅因为产生量大，还因为其含有高浓度的微塑料、其他有害污染物、病原体和重金属。目前，水处理厂产生的大部分污水污泥通过生物过程（例如厌氧消化）或化学过程（例如石灰）进行稳定化，所得产品用作肥料。微塑料/PFOA/病原体通过污泥进入农业垃圾填埋场，对人类健康和环境产生不利影响。鉴于持续的气候危机、对微塑料的担忧以及竞争日益激烈的出口市场，水处理公司和其他利益相关者正在积极研究使用热解等替代新技术来热处理污水污泥，其目的如下：* 能源回收，帮助最大限度地减少碳排放，推动自来水公司实现净零排放目标。* 销毁微塑料和其他潜在潜力污染物，以最大限度地减少对环境的任何感知风险。* 降低处置风险和成本。* 回收磷和其他高价值元素。这个为期 18 个月的工业研究项目旨在开发热解气化器演示器（设备和方法）“PyroPlus”，以满足水工业的所有上述需求。 PyroPlus 产生清洁、高热值 (~20MJ/m3) 的氢合成气，并通过热裂解成更小的氢和碳（C1、C2 和 C3）化合物，不含硫、氮和重金属，从而消除微塑料，从而为污水污泥处理带来了重大变化。该项目还旨在开发一种 5 公斤/小时的连续涂覆方法，通过表面功能化来提高热解炭的价值。所有竞争的一级、二级和三级污泥处理解决方案（筛选/沉淀/超滤）都无法完全消除污水污泥中的微塑料和其他固体污染物。竞争性技术侧重于分离微塑料，而不是将其热裂解成较小的化合物，这是其失败的关键原因。PyroPlus 将有助于实现英国的可再生能源目标和气候变化管理义务，同时也将有助于维护现有废物处理资产在水工业中的作用。

Sewage sludge is primarily water combined with the solids (both organic and inorganic) that are removed through physicochemical processes (settling/filtration) during the wastewater treatment process. Future global quantities of sewage sludge are expected to rise significantly due to increasingly strict effluent requirements for wastewater-treatment-plants, and the building of more wastewater treatment plants in developing countries. This increased sludge production necessitates an economic and environmentally sustainable treatment process. Sludge disposal/handling is challenging not only because of the large volumes produced, but also because of its high concentration of microplastics, other harmful pollutants, pathogens and heavy metals. Currently, most of the sewage sludge produced by water treatment plants is stabilized via biological processes (e.g. anaerobic digestion) or chemical processes (e.g. liming) with the resultant product used as a fertilizer. Microplastics/PFOAs/pathogens finding their way into the agricultural landfill via sludge has adverse impacts on human health and the environment.Given the ongoing climate crisis, concerns about microplastics and an increasingly competitive outlet market, use of alternative novel technologies such as pyrolysis is being actively investigated by water treatment companies and others stake-holders to thermally treat sewage sludge with the following aims:* Energy recovery to help minimize carbon emissions and drive the water companies towards their net zero targets.* Destruction of microplastics and other potential contaminants to minimize any perceived risk to the environment.* Reduction in the disposal risk and costs.* Recovery of phosphorus and other high value elements.This 18months industrial-research project aims to develop a pyrolysis gasifier demonstrator (equipment and methodology) 'PyroPlus' which responds to all of the above described needs of water industry. PyroPlus brings a step change in the sewage sludge handling by producing clean, high Calorific Value (~20MJ/m3) hydrogen laden syngas and eliminating microplastics through their thermal cracking into smaller hydrogen and carbon (C1, C2 and C3) compounds free from sulphur and nitrogen acids, and heavy metals. The project also aims to develop a 5kg/hr continuous coating method to valorise pyrolytic char through surface functionlisation.All competing primary, secondary and tertiary sludge treatment solutions (screening/sedimentation/ultrafiltration) fail to completely eliminate microplastics and other solid pollutants from the sewage sludge. Competitive technologies focus on separating the microplastics rather than thermally crack them into smaller compounds, a key reason of their failure.PyroPlus will help meeting the UK's renewable energy targets and climate change management obligations but will also help safeguarding the role of existing waste treatment assets in the water industry.