Study on the pyrolysis characteristics of rolling oil sludge in the iron and steel industry

Abstract Pyrolysis is an effective technology that can recover energy and resources from rolling oil sludge (ROS), a hazardous waste. In this work, thermogravimetric analysis experiments were used to investigate the variation in the thermal weight loss curve of the ROS at different heating rates and then assesses the pyrolysis characteristics of the ROS. Based on the Ozawa–Flynn–Wall (OFW), Friedman (FM), and Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose (KAS) models, the characteristic reaction kinetics of the ROS pyrolysis process were calculated. The apparent activation energy trends calculated by the three models were the same, and in all cases, the apparent activation energy increased with increasing conversion ratio. The thermodynamic function of the pyrolysis process at different heating rates was calculated via the OFW model, and A, ΔH, and ΔS tended to increase with increasing conversion ratio. An experimental tubular furnace study revealed that an increase in the pyrolysis temperature of the ROS had a positive effect on the combustible component content, reducing the component content, iron grade, and metallization ratio of the pyrolysis residue of the pyrolysis gas. Analysis of the pyrolysis behaviour of the ROS revealed that the ROS has the potential for resource utilization.