CARBONIZATION OF POLYESTER AND COTTON CLOTH FOR PRODUCTION
OF THE GAS WITH HIGH HYDROGEN CONTENT
O. Dudnyk1, A.K. Sinha2, Bhawan Singh2, P. Stryzhak3, A. Trypolsky3, S.A. Farooqui2, I. Sokolovska1
1 Coal Energy Technology Institute of NAS of Ukraine, 19, Andriyvska str., 04070, Kyiv, Ukraine,
2 Indian Institute of Petroleum, Catalysis Conversion Process Division, Uttarakhand, 248005, Dehradun, India,
3 L.V. Pysarzhevsky Institute of Physical Chemistry of NAS of Ukraine, 31, Nauki Ave., 03028, Kyiv, Ukraine

e-mail: aldudnik@bigmir.net; phone: +038 044 4250419, fax: +38 044 537 22 41

Abstract
Simultaneous conversion of wastes, which have different compositions and properties, is important for domestic organic
waste utilization. The material that contains both synthetic and natural polymers (waste of clothe consisting of 65 wt. %polyester and 35 wt. % cotton) was chosen to study the carbonization.
Stage mechanism of carbonization for mixture of polyester and cotton was determined based on research ofcarbonization of pure polyester and pure cotton with heating rate of 10-15 °C/min.
Analysis of the results of cloth carbonization without the use of catalyst showed that the obtained dry gas at the outlet ofwater cooler is enriched in CO (above 20 vol. %), non rich of hydrogen (below 14 vol. %) and methane (below 8 vol. %).
Nano-structured Fe-Catalyst of Institute of the Physical Chemistry of NAS of Ukraine and porous magnetically-separable
Ni-Catalyst of Indian Institute of Petroleum for volatile conversion to increase hydrogen yield were used.
The influence of carbonization parameters and additives of catalysts on an increase in volatile conversion degree andcomposition of the obtained gas was studied. High-reactive coal and dry gas with hydrogen content more than 30 vol. %were obtained as the result of Indian and Ukrainian catalysts tests.

Keywords: carbonization, wastes, polyester, cotton, hydrogenIntroduction
It is not always possible to separate the various organic
wastes before conversion into valuable products. The
researches of the conversion of various organic materials(wood, paper, cotton, sunflower husk, lignin, lignite, andbituminous coal) have been conducted in Coal Energy
Technology Institute of NAS of Ukraine since 2006 [1-3].
The results of the research of carbonization of themixture of natural (cellulose in cotton) and synthetic(polyester) polymers are presented in this paper. Wastesof the cloth of polyester (65 wt.%) and cotton (35 wt.%)
were selected for the study of carbonization to produce
high-energy coal and gas with high content of hydrogen.,
Up to 25% of unreacted steam was evolved from the dry
wastes during carbonization. New Ni- and Fe-Catalysts
were used for the catalytic conversion of volatile matterof the cloth and an increase in hydrogen content in theobtained gas.

filters. The ceramic reactor has a length of 120 mm, innerdiameter of 15 mm, and wall thickness of 3 mm. A
sample of the test material and thermocouple were in the
middle of the ceramic reactor. Inlet and outlet of theceramic reactor were closed with high-temperature filters.
The installation for carbonation was used to research theinfluence of carbonization parameters on the yield of dry
coal and the effect of carbonization temperature on theyield of moisture and volatile matter and change of stateof samples during heating.
The second modification of the test installation (Fig. 1) isdesigned to determine the composition of dry gas
produced during the carbonization of the samples.

Test installations for organic waste
carbonization
Two test installations for solid fuel carbonization of Coal
Energy Technology Institute of NAS of Ukraine (CETI)
were used for the research of organic waste
carbonization.
The first modification of the installation for carbonizationof CETI consists of ceramic reactor, two electric heaters,
heat-insulation, voltage regulator, thermocouple, andFig. 1. Circuit of experimental installation with steel
reactor for organic waste carbonization
Steel reactor with an inner diameter of 6 mm and wall
thickness of 2 mm was put in the ceramic tube. The steel

7th International Symposium on Feedstock Recycling of Polymeric Materials (7th ISFR 2013)
New Delhi, India, 23-26 October 2013

reactor has an inlet for inert blow before carbonizationand gas output to the cooler. Sample of initial organic
material and thermocouple were placed in the middle ofthe steel reactor. Different catalysts for the conversion ofvolatiles were at the exit from the bed of the organic
sample. A variant of mixing the catalyst with the initialorganic material before carbonization was also used. The
composition of the obtained gas was determined withchromatograph [2, 3].

The composition of organic wastes
The processes of carbonization of PET, cotton cloth, andcloth of polyester (65 wt.%) and cotton (35 wt.%). The
composition of PET in terms of analytical weight, wt. %:Ca = 62.02, Oa = 33.04, Ha = 4.16, Asha = 0.08, and Wa =0.7. The cotton cloth, wt. %: Ca = 41.98, Oa = 46.58, Ha =5.87, Asha = 0.49, and Wa = 5.08. The cloth of polyesterand cotton, wt. %: Ca = 55.40, Oa = 38.36, Ha = 4.84,
Asha = 0.43, Wa = 0.97.

Experimental test procedure
The samples with weight of 3.7 g were loaded in theceramic reactor. Carbonization was conducted withheating rate of samples of 12-15 °C/min during 30-35
minutes up to 470-500 °C (with the determination of
influence of moisture and volatile output on the heating
rate of the sample). The samples were held during 30
min at the temperature of 470-500 °C and cooled down
to 100-120 °C. The obtained dry coal samples wereunloaded and weighed.

Results of experimental research using
ceramic reactor
The yield of dry coal from the dry sample of: PET was
19.3 %, cloth of polyester and cotton was 19.1 %, andcotton cloth was 22.8 %, respectively.
The influence of change of state and volatile output on
the heating rate of the samples was determined bythermograms. The influence of volatile output on theheating rate of cotton cloth started at the temperature ofcarbonization of 171 °C. Heating rate of PET waschanged at the temperatures: 65 °C (vitrification), 247 °C(melting) and 367 °C (volatile matter output). Heating
rate of the cloth of polyester and cotton was changed atthe temperatures: 66 °C (vitrification of polyester), 171°C (volatile output from cotton), 295 °C (polyestermelting), and 367 °C (volatile matter output frompolyester).
As the results of proximate analysis, the composition of
the obtained coal from the cloth of polyester and cotton
was: Wa = 1.1 wt. %, Aa = 2.4 wt. %, Va = 16.7 wt. %, Cfix
= 79.8 wt. %, and LHV = 30.2 MJ / kg.

Results of experimental research using
steel reactor and catalysts

nano-structured Fe-Catalyst for volatile conversion wasdeveloped in L.V. Pysarzhevsky Institute of Physical
Chemistry of NAS of Ukraine. The catalysts were used
for the conversion of cloth of polyester and cotton.
During carbonization of cloth of polyester and cotton (1 g)in the steel reactor without the use of catalysts, thecontent of hydrogen in the dry obtained gas was 5 to 8vol. %, CO2 was 45 to 70 vol. %. The composition of theobtained gas for the entire experiment was: H2 = 7,7 vol.
%, CO = 33.9 vol. %, CO2 = 54.4 vol. %, and CH4 = 4.0
vol. %. LHV of the obtained gas was 6.5 MJ/nm3.
During carbonization of cloth of polyester and cotton (1g), porous magnetically-separable Ni-Catalyst (1 g) wasused after the fuel bed. During carbonization of the cloth,hydrogen content in dry gas varied 12 to 42 vol. % andCO2 was 35 to 70 vol. %. The composition of theobtained gas for the entire experiment was: H2 = 28 vol.
%, CO = 23 vol. %, CO2 = 46 vol. %, and CH4 = 3 vol. %.
LHV of the obtained gas was 7.0 MJ/nm3.
Nano-structured Fe-Catalyst (1 g) was mixed with thecloth of polyester and cotton (1 g) before carbonization.
During carbonization of the cloth, hydrogen content in drygas varied 16 to 56 vol. % and CO2 was 33 to 47 vol. %.
The composition of the dry obtained gas for the entire
experiment was: H2 = 38 vol. %, CO = 18 vol. %, CO2 =40 vol. %, and % CH4 = 4 vol. %. LHV of the obtainedgas was 7.8 MJ/nm3.

Conclusions
1. Stage mechanism of carbonization for mixture ofpolyester and cotton was determined based on researchof carbonization of pure polyester and pure cotton withheating rate of 10-15 °C/min.
2. Coal with calorific value of 30.2 MJ/kg and gas withheating value of more than 7 MJ/nm3 suitable for further
conversion into a liquid fuel were obtained as a result ofcarbonization of the cloth of polyester and cotton using
catalysts for volatile matter conversion.

References[1] O.M. Dudnyk, I.S. Sokolovska Conversion of
Ukrainian Low Grade Solid Fuels with CO2 Capture. In:
Proceedings of Twenty-Seventh Annual International
Pittsburgh Coal Conference, 2010, Paper 22-2, pp. 1- 22.
[2] O. Dudnyk, P. Stryzhak, A. Trypolsky, I. Sokolovska.
Conversion of solid organic waste using microchannelreactor. In: Modern science: research, ideas, results, andtechnologies. Collection of scientific articles, 2012, 3(11), pp. 80-83.
[3] O. Dudnyk, P. Stryzhak, I. Sokolovska O. A.
Trypolsky, E. Kalishin, V. Donets. Study of the process ofsunflower husk carbonization. In: Modern science.
Collection of scientific articles, 2011, 4 (6), pp. 74-78

For the experimental research in Coal Energy
Technology Institute of NAS of Ukraine, porous
magnetically-separable Ni-Catalyst for an increase inhydrogen content in the gas after waste carbonization
was developed in Indian Institute of Petroleum, and7th International Symposium on Feedstock Recycling of Polymeric Materials (7th ISFR 2013)
New Delhi, India, 23-26 October 2013