Project seeks to generate energy through the application of pyrolysis, a chemical reaction that decomposes substances through heat

Considered one of the most traditional activities in the manufacturing industry, furniture manufacturing guarantees Brazil sixth position among the world's largest producers. Rio Grande do Sul, in turn, is considered the second largest national furniture producer. The data are from the Brazilian Association of Furniture Industries (Abimovel) and the Association of Furniture Industries of the State of Rio Grande do Sul (Movergs), respectively.

This high volume of production is followed by a significant generation of waste, classified as solid and liquid. Among the solids, direct derivatives of wood and those originating from raw material packaging stand out.

In this scenario, a study developed at Feevale University will investigate a way of treating this waste for energy production purposes. The project Application of pyrolysis to generate energy using waste from the furniture production chain seeks to contribute to the sustainable development of the furniture sector in the State and provide a new destination for waste from this industry, implementing the concept of circular economy.

To this end, the waste pyrolysis method will be explored. Pyrolysis is a chemical reaction that decomposes substances through heat, in a non-oxidizing atmosphere – thus differentiating itself from combustion. This transforms the waste into a product with energy potential, as explained by professor Marco Antônio Siqueira Rodrigues, project coordinator.

This process can produce energy and a value-added compound, being an excellent technology to apply to the treatment of waste like the ones we are seeing in cities affected by floods, which are damaged furniture”, he says. Regarding the energy generated, Rodrigues points out that it can be used to generate electricity, fuel or steam, for example. “In other words, it enters the current grid of Brazil’s energy system”, he adds.

The project is being developed by 15 researchers, including Marco Antônio Siqueira Rodrigues, Carlos Leonardo Pandolfo Carone and Patrice Monteiro de Aquim, from Feevale. The others are from the Federal University of Santa Maria; from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul; the Polymer Engineering Institute of the National Industrial Learning Service of Rio Grande do Sul (Senai-RS); the Wood and Furniture Institute of Senai-RS; and the companies Fergus, Florense, RL Pasin and SP Consultoria Empresarial.