Carbon dioxide assisted thermal decomposition of cattle excreta.

To develop the environmentally benign thermo-chemical process, this study placed great emphasis on the influence of CO on pyrolysis of cattle excreta for energy recovery. To this end, this study evaluates the possible enhanced energy recovery from cattle excreta using CO as reaction medium/feedstock in the thermal degradation of cattle excreta. The enhanced generation of CO in the presence of CO reached up to 15.15mol% (reference value: 0.369mol%) at 690°C, which was equivalent to ~4000 times more generation of CO. In addition to the enhanced generation of CO, the enhanced generation of H and CH in the thermal degradation of cattle excreta in CO. Thus, the findings of this study revealed two genuine roles of CO: 1) enhanced thermal cracking of volatile organic carbons (VOCs) evolved from the thermal degradation of cattle excreta and 2) direct reaction between VOCs and CO via gas phase reaction.