Research Projects

Sanitary waste (single-use diapers and sanitary pads) is the third-largest waste in the world and has significant non-biodegradable material. Non-biodegradability of these wastes and cost involved in the waste management reveals a need for alternate less polluted methods for their conversion to value-added feedstock. This study proposes waste-to-energy conversion by gasification process of sanitary waste to provide a clean pathway of waste destruction and its conversion into hydrogen-rich syngas. CO₂ will be used as a gasifying agent that reduces carbon footprint with the CO₂ consumption in waste gasification. In the first part, basic aspects of the gasification process will be studied: chemical conversion performances and performances in the function of the operation conditions (temperature). In a further step, the properties of syngas will be evaluated as per the standards. As the syngas is less reactive fuel compared to conventional available fuel. A low-temperature combustion reactivity-controlled compression ignition (RCCI) approach will be used for the suitability of syngas in engines with lower emissions. The test setup will be modified for RCCI combustion mode. The syngas will be tested on engine setup to evaluate the performance, combustion, and emission characteristics. The proposed approach has significant importance for heating and power generation applications for industries/hospitals. As a medical university, we will have plans to set up a small plant to reduce waste management costs and power generation after the successful completion of the project. The life cycle assessment will also be done to analyse the sustainability of the proposed approach.