Dovilė Gimžauskaitė doctoral dissertation defense

Author, Institution: Dovilė Gimžauskaitė, Lithuanian Energy Institute

Dissertation title: Research of the Conversion of Liquid and Solid Wastes Using Thermal Plasma Technology

Science area, field of science: Technological Sciences – Energy and Power Engineering, T006

Defense of the dissertation: 2020-08-28, 10:00 a.m., Lithuanian Energy Institute (room – AK-330 a.), Breslaujos st. 3, Kaunas, Lithuania.

Scientific Supervisor: Dr. Vitas Valinčius (Lithuanian Energy Institute, Technological Sciences, Energetics and Power Engineering – T006)

Dissertation Defense Board of Energetics and Power Engineering Science Field:

• Chairperson – Assoc. Prof. Dr. Habil. Algirdas Kaliatka (Kaunas University of Technology, Technological Sciences, Energetics and Power Engineering, T006)
• Dr. Irina Filatova (National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, Nature Sciences – Physics, N002)
• Prof. Dr. Habil. Vytautas Martinaitis (Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Technological Sciences – Energetics and Power Engineering, T006)
• Dr. Sigitas Rimkevičius (Lithuanian Energy Institute, Technological Sciences – Energetics and Power Engineering, T006)
• Dr. Nerijus Striūgas (Lithuanian Energy Institute, Technological Sciences – Energetics and Power Engineering, T006)

The doctoral dissertation is available at the library of Kaunas University of Technology (K. Donelaičio St. 20, Kaunas, Lithuania) and at Lithuanian Energy Institute (Breslaujos St. 3, Kaunas, Lithuania).

Annotation
The amount of waste generation is continuously increasing, and the ways are being sought to deal with it most sustainably and efficiently. Currently, waste management is based on the principle of the waste hierarchy, which is composed of five stages: prevention, reuse, recycle, recovery, and disposal. Despite many efforts to accomplish the first three stages, still, there is a part of the wastes that can only be handled by recovery (e.g. waste-to-energy conversion (WtE)). Among WtE conversion technologies, plasma technologies are considered as a viable solution for waste management in the future. However, in seeking to widen the use of such technologies, further experimental studies are needed. Thus, this work aimed to investigate the plasma conversion processes of liquid (crude glycerol) and solid (diesel-contaminated soil) wastes, determining the optimal performing conditions for the crude glycerol conversion process, and evaluating diesel fuel removal efficiency from the soil.

The experimental research of crude glycerol conversion using thermal plasma allowed determining the influence of the gasifying agent type and flow rate to the crude glycerol conversion process. Also, the efficiency of proposed plasma-based technology was evaluated by calculating the mass and energy balance of the plasma system during the glycerol conversion process.
Experimental research studies on the remediation of diesel fuel contaminated soil allowed evaluating the suitability of thermal plasma to treat petroleum-hydrocarbons polluted soil. The main emphasis was placed on the determination of soil remediation process dependence on plasma forming gas and contaminant concentration.

• Summary of the dissertation (in Lithuanian)
• Dissertation