Lay, Mark C.Hasan, Sohaib2021-05-182021-05-182020Hasan, S. (2020). Waste-to-Energy: Solar pyrolysis of sludge, as a part of global solid waste issue, to produce oil. Initial trial to design a household solar pyrolysis device (Thesis, Master of Engineering (ME)). The University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10289/14329https://hdl.handle.net/10289/14329Daily, huge amounts of solid waste are produced around the world with 70% increase rate. Municipal solid waste (MSW) including sewage sludge is the main waste generated in cities and towns. Proper waste management approaches are urgently needed. Despite numerous social and technical approaches were presented, this paper aims to employ plenty of solar energy specifically in the Middle East into a waste-to energy solution. By using solar pyrolysis technology, this study aims to present a solar powered design to convert sludge into oil. This design can be easily upgraded to a household device as a household waste management approach. Like other thermochemical reactions, solar pyrolysis of sludge produces bio-oil which has a reasonable calorific value making this technology is useful as a fuel source. However, unlike others, solar pyrolysis has low operation cost and not dependent on fossil fuel. Although this device is designed only for sludge, it can be used also to convert all kinds of domestic wastes including waste oils, plastics, rubbers, and municipality solid waste (MSW) into energy and oil. This research illustrates a novel design for a dryer that produce “a slude flacks” by using solar energy. Factors such as feasibility, continuity, productivity, drying time, and quality of the yield were considered in this design. A rotational dryer with ɸ 1m and 1m length was modelled by Solidwork software application to dry wet sludge of 75% water content. Different types of solar concentrators were employed to maximize productivity and minimize cost and area. However, the average daily production of this dryer per 8 sunny working hours was around 51.87 litters of bio-oil, 31.78 Kg bio-char, and 58.785 Kg syngas. The best results were measured when the average mass flow into the reactor is 21 kg/hr. This study highlights solar pyrolysis efficiency in waste management. This research aims to develop a solar-powered system, using the sludge as fuel to generate energy. The experiments were done at Waikato University, NZ. As known, Waikato district is wet and cloudy most days in comparison to those countries on the Sunbelt such as Jordan. Interestingly, figures show that solar pyrolysis of sludge has high potential in Jordan and Middle East countries in term of plenty of solar energy and sunny days. However, although solar pyrolysis can be described as an affordable eco friendly technology that can be used directly by householders as a source of energy, its viability and feasibility in Middle East still need further study.application/pdfenAll items in Research Commons are provided for private study and research purposes and are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated.Solid waste managementSludgeSolar pyrolysisMiddle EastDrying theorySewage sludge fuelWaste products as fuelMunicipal solid waste incinerator residuesPyrolysisSolar energyThermochemistryPetroleum as fuelPetroleum engineering -- Equipment and suppliesThesis2021-05-17