GASIFICATION OF OLIVE MILL WASTE WATER WITH WATER PLASMA

Olive mill waste water “Karasu” is formed as a result of olive oil production. Due to the abundance of organic matter, suspended solids, oil and grease and existence of phenolic compounds, it is a significantly dangerous type of waste water. Since the pollution rate in olive mill waste water is high, its disposal and obtaining of energy from organic compounds (fatty acids, etc.) within should be enabled. In this study, olive mill water waste is used as a raw matter and gasified with water plasma. Obtainable ideal plasma gas composition is theoretically examined and results obtained from experimental studies are compared. In theoretic studies during gasification process four basic reactions were used, compound equivalance has been established and gasification process has been simulated using MATLAB program with conversion balance. Ideal syngaz composition was established at temperatures between 850 – 1000 K working within 0,05-0,7 S (water vapor/dry fuel) ratios. In experimental studies plasma gasification experiments with low mass flow range olive mill waste water feed were performed and in order to examine gas composition gas chromatography analysis was executed. When conclusions of experiments and theoric calculations are compared, results are proven to be consistent and compared to the conventional gasification methods same ratio of syngas compounds have been achieved by plasma gasification at much lower temperatures.