Conical spouted bed combustor to obtain clean energy from avocado waste
Marı́a J. San José, Sonia Álvarez, Raquel Astacio López
Abstract
The advantages of spouted bed technology for waste treatment are linked to the high excess of renewable biomass waste generated by the large worldwide consumption of avocado. Therefore, the applicability of avocado waste as fuel in a novel conical spouted bed combustor was investigated. The solid cyclic movement in this reactor innovatively promotes better mass and heat transfer, as well as better energy exploitation of the waste. Local heat transfer coefficients were experimentally determined in the beds of avocado waste in the combustor to assess their heat transfer and determine their value as biofuels. The combustion of the avocado beds in the spouted bed regime was performed at 300–600 °C in a conical reactor at the minimum spouting velocity. The exhaust gas evolution was monitored over time, and the emission ratios were calculated. The combustion efficiencies of avocado seeds, skin, and their binary mixtures, determined from flue gas concentrations, were compared, and the effects of temperature and bed composition on combustion efficiency were analyzed.