Pyrolysis Reactor, 425 °C
Turn residual waste into fuel gas, bio-oil and char on sunlight. The reactor shreds residual municipal waste, pulls the ferrous metal out and pyrolyses the rest at 425 degrees Celsius, firing its own gas back as heat. The char goes on to the Atomic Cell.
Shred, Pyrolyse, Pass On
- 1The Waste Arrives
A tipper truck delivers residual municipal waste, after recycling and organics collection, and the reactor takes it in by the batch. - 2The Shredder Runs
The waste is shredded to under 50 millimetres, and a magnet pulls the ferrous metal out on the way through. - 3The Reactor Pyrolyses
The staging tray indexes into the reactor at 425 degrees Celsius. Every tonne gives up 89 kilograms of pyrolysis gas, 155 kilograms of bio-oil vapour, condensed in the finned condenser, and 117 kilograms of char. - 4Its Own Gas Fires It
The reactor needs 475 kilowatt hours of heat a tonne. Burning its own gas supplies 150 of them, so the array supplies 325. - 5The Char Moves On
The tray carries the char and the inorganic residue through to the Atomic Cell.
Specification
| Temperature | 425 degrees Celsius |
| Heat | 475 kilowatt hours per tonne, 150 of them from its own pyrolysis gas |
| Intensity | 325 kilowatt hours of solar electricity per tonne |
| Materials | Off the shelf components |
| Power | Direct current from the array, with zero inverters and no grid connection |
| Duty | Sunlight hours |
| Accepts | Residual municipal waste after recycling and organics collection, under 30% moisture, shredded inside to under 50 millimetres. Large metals, hazardous waste and asbestos stay out |
Five Cells and the Sun
Resource recovery: 5 Cells in a row with 1.5 megawatts of solar take in 2,675 tonnes a year of residual municipal waste and send out raw materials. Waste arrives by truck, a gate fee is paid to take it, and every atom leaves as a product.
Thermal 425
Pyrolysis Reactor, 425 °C
Takes the waste in, shreds it and pyrolyses it at 425 degrees Celsius into fuel gas, bio-oil and char.
Atomic
Atomic Vaporiser and Mass Separator
Vaporises the char and ash in a direct current arc, sorts the atoms by mass and condenses every element out on its own.
Fluid
Gas Separation Unit
Makes the 99% nitrogen the powder line and the bagging run under, 15 cubic metres an hour.
Thermal 1000
Calcining Kiln, 1,000 °C
Steam activates 17 kilograms of char a tonne into water filter grade activated carbon, 47 tonnes a year.
Power
Sunlight
1.5 megawatts of direct current from the array, 1,971 megawatt hours a year, with no inverters, no grid connection and no fuel to buy.
Fuel Gas, Bio-oil and Char
Three products come out of the pyrolysis stage before any atom is vaporised. The gas runs the reactor, the bio-oil is sold as fuel, and the char becomes biochar and activated carbon.
What It Makes
- Pyrolysis gas
89 kilograms a tonne at 12 megajoules a kilogram, fired back into the reactor - Bio-oil
155 kilograms a tonne. 73% is sold as light fuel and heavy asphalt after distillation, 302 tonnes a year; 27% is fired as heat - Char
117 kilograms a tonne: 268 tonnes a year of biochar, and 47 tonnes a year of water filter grade activated carbon after steam activation in the Calcining Kiln
Front elevation
