Steam Gasification Process of Chlorine-rich Shredder Granules: Experiments and Flow-sheeting Modelling for Process Evaluation and Scale-up

Gasification technology is gaining more and more importance, due to its engineering property of energy conversion of feedstock material into valuable gaseous process fuel. Using waste material the gasification process appears even more interesting, mostly when an ecological drawback like the production of low-pH and chlorine-rich syngas is turned into a substantial advantage. This is given when the acid gas is used for particular applications such as steel scrap preheating and simultaneous surface cleaning before its utilisation in steel plants. In this paper a lab-scale steam gasification process for the production of a chlorine-rich gas is presented. The produced syngas shows an interesting heating value as well as adequate chlorine content for its utilisation in the mentioned application. The overall process has been evaluated by means of flow-sheeting models to assess its performances in comparison with alternative solutions. Models are intended to calculate mass and energy balances as well as to evaluate the optimum process operating conditions considering the downstream utilisation of the syngas. Results of the models are presented in comparison with experimental data. Finally an outlook is given with regard to possible model applications as guidelines for process scale-up and optimisation.