Development of Thermal Recycle Technology for Wasted Insulating Material of Electric Power Cable

为了对废弃的交联聚乙烯（XLPE）电力电缆绝缘材料进行热回收利用，采用热重分析仪和电热跌落炉对其燃烧性能和基本点火/燃烧特性进行了研究。利用旋流紊流燃烧室对其实际燃烧性能进行了测试。通过热平衡实验，将样品的燃烧行为分为两个阶段。在第一阶段，挥发性物质演化并在500k左右燃烧。在第二阶段，残余固体成分的燃烧发生在700-800 K的温度范围内。对于使用降炉获得的基本点火/燃烧特性，在150 ~ 300 μ m范围内筛分的颗粒可以在最低点火温度下燃烧，并且点火温度的波动变小。通过测量燃烧过程中沿炉轴方向释放气体的组分，对燃烧过程进行了详细的描述。炉内上游虽产生低品位烃和CO，但在出口均减少。将废电缆涂层材料与煤粉的基本燃烧特性进行了比较，发现煤粉比废电缆涂层材料更容易燃烧。在此基础上，将废料作为固体燃料应用于旋流紊流燃烧室。因此，即使是300 ~ 440微米的粗颗粒也能完全燃烧。而大于500 μ m的大颗粒则不能维持稳定燃烧。这些结果表明，废弃的电缆绝缘材料可以作为一种实用的固体燃料加以利用。

In order to thermally recycle a wasted insulating material of electric power cable, which was made of cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE), the combustion properties and fundamental ignition/combustion characteristics were studied by using a thermogravimetric analyzer and an electrically heated drop furnace. The practical combustion behaviors were also tested by using a swirl flow turbulent combustor.From the thermobalance experiments, the combustion behavior of sample is divided into two stages. During the first stage the volatile matter evolves and burns around 500 K.Ih the second stage, on the other hand, the combustion of residual solid component takes place in the temperature range of 700-800 K.Regarding the fundamental ignition/combustion characteristics obtained by using the drop furnace, the particles sieved from 150 until 300 mum can burn at the lowest ignition temperature, and the fluctuation of ignition temperature becomes narrow. The detail combustion behavior was elucidated by measuring the components of released gas along the furnace axis during the combustion. Although low-grade hydrocarbonsand CO are produced in the upper stream of furnace, all of them diminish at the exit. Comparing the fundamental combustion behavior of the wasted material of cable coating with pulverized coals, the former can burn more easily than the latter.Based on the above-mentioned results, the wasted material was applied as the solid fuel to the swirling turbulent combustor. As a result, even the coarse particles ranged from 300 to 440 mum can burn completely. However, the larger particles ranged more than 500 mum cannot maintain the steady combustion. These results suggest that the wasted insulating material of electricpower cable can be applied worthily as one of practical solid fuels.