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Microwave pyrolysis of cattle manure: initiation mechanism and product characteristics

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Abstract

The depleting fossil fuels and anthropogenic climate change require involvement of renewable energy resources, including animal wastes. One of the effective, although less studied, ways of the cattle manure transformation to a convenient energy source is its microwave pyrolysis (MWP) into a combustible gas. The MWP of cattle manure was experimentally studied, using differential thermal analysis, scanning electron microscopy, BET surface measurement, and high-speed video recording. Spark discharges between inorganic centers with metallic or semiconductor properties in the MWP-treated manure were found responsible for the MW-radiation impact. It was experimentally shown that on course of thermal destruction, the absorption of microwave radiation by manure increases almost two times probably due to a change in the composition of carbon-containing compounds and the release of gases, tar vapors, and pyrogenic water. The MWP treatment provides fast and uniform heating of manure with its more complete volatilization, leaving only 34.5% wt. of carbonaceous residue compared to 42.7% in thermal pyrolysis. The MWP gas is of relatively high calorific value (21.08 MJ m−3) at low content of ballast gases, thus providing environmentally friendly manure transformation with a lesser greenhouse effect.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study will be available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation project No. 22-19-00410 No. 22-19-00410 (development of scientific and technical fundamentals of technology for obtaining microwave pyrolysis products from bio-coal compositions). Analytical studies were carried out using scientific equipment purchased within the project FEWZ-2021-0014.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Environmental and Agricultural Biology (X-BIO), University of Tyumen, 6 Volodarskogo St, Tyumen, Russian Federation, 625003

    Roman Tabakaev, Igor Dimitryuk, Kanipa Ibraeva, Mariya Gaidabrus & Ivan Shanenkov

  2. National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, 30 Lenin Ave, Tomsk, Russian Federation, 634050

    Roman Tabakaev, Ivan Kalinich, Andrei Mostovshchikov, Askar Asilbekov & Maxim Rudmin

  3. Boreskov Institute of Catalysis SB RAS, 5 Lavrentiev Ave, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation, 630090

    Nikolay Yazykov

  4. Department of Materials and Environmental Technology, Tallinn University of Technology, 5 Ehitajate Tee, 19086, Tallinn, Estonia

    Sergei Preis

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  1. Roman Tabakaev
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. The pyrolysis processing experiments were performed by R. Tabakaev, I. Kalinich, and I. Dimitryuk; the high-speed video recording was performed by A. Asilbekov. K. Ibraeva, M. Gaidabrus, and M. Rudmin were responsible for DTA, proximate and ultimate analyses, and SEM studies, respectively. The mechanism of microwave discharge formation was described by A. Mostovschikov and N. Yazykov. The first draft of the manuscript was written by R. Tabakaev, and I. Shanenkov and S. Preis commented on the previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Roman Tabakaev.

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Tabakaev, R., Kalinich, I., Mostovshchikov, A. et al. Microwave pyrolysis of cattle manure: initiation mechanism and product characteristics. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-023-04686-9

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