Sorbent behavior in urban waste incineration: acid gas removal and thermogravimetric characterization

A thermogravimetric procedure has been developed for the characterization of a partially reacted sorbent from a dry cleaning process (TURBOSORP®) which was operated in an urban waste incineration plant. The amounts of calcitic compounds in the sorbent: Ca(OH)2, CaCO3, CaCl2 and sulfur containing products were determined by means of TGA, after validation with standard chemical analysis techniques. Different desulfurization products were obtained in a laboratory fixed bed reactor working under conditions of the large scale plant, in the range of relative humidity 20–45%. The results obtained show the relevance of CaCl2 in the sorbent allowing a higher calcium utilization, in terms of mole of sulfur per mole of calcium, when working at 40–45% of relative humidity. The values achieved were significantly higher than those reported in previous studies working with hydrated lime as sorbent.