Hydrogen-rich gas production from disposable COVID-19 mask by steam gasification

Globally, the demand for masks has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in 490,201 tons of waste masks disposed of per month. Since masks are used in places with a high risk of virus infection, waste masks retain the risk of virus contamination. In this study, a 1 kg/h lab-scale (diameter: 0.114 m, height: 1 m) bubbling fluidized bed gasifier was used for steam gasification (temperature: 800 °C, steam/carbon (S/C) ratio: 1.5) of waste masks. The use of a downstream reactor with activated carbon (AC) for tar cracking and the enhancement of hydrogen production was examined. Steam gasification with AC produces syngas with H(2), CO, CH(4), and CO(2) content of 38.89, 6.40, 21.69, and 7.34 vol%, respectively. The lower heating value of the product gas was 29.66 MJ/Nm(3) and the cold gas efficiency was 74.55 %. This study showed that steam gasification can be used for the utilization of waste masks and the production of hydrogen-rich gas for further applications.