I-Corps: Waste Torrefaction Technology

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to minimize landfilled waste disposal and produce clean and renewable solid fuel. The main objective of the project is to gain insight into customer needs and to determine if there is a value proposition for this technology. Waste is a feedstock that is difficult to handle and has large inconsistencies with high chlorine content.

The team has developed a heat treatment that addresses these issues, producing a torrefied fuel product that will benefit energy intensive companies (cement kilns, metallurgy, power, etc.), encouraging them to use renewable energy and reduce costs. Society will benefit from this project through reduced landfilling, which will preserve the land from future landfilling, reduce pollution by the toxic leachates, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and turn waste into a resource, thus supporting the circular economy.

This I-Corps project will reveal customer needs and pain points in the area of solid fuel combustion and help to determine if torrefied waste can be considered as a solid fuel used in small-to-medium size power plants. As part of the customer discovery process, problems in using waste for energy applications such as difficulty in handling, difficulty in transport, large inconsistencies, high chlorine content, and severe corrosion and emissions will be explored.

The team has developed a torrefaction system that addresses these hindrances with a series of processes, including downsizing, melting, pyrolization, and pelletization which reduces chlorine and sulfur. This torrefied product is pellet-shaped with high uniformity, high density, high heat content, high consistency, and high durability. The pellets are low in chlorine content, grindable, safe to store, safe to ship, and low in cost.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.