Conversion of medical waste into value-added products using a novel integrated system with tail gas treatment:...

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated substantial medical waste (MW), posing risks to society. Based on widespread MW incineration, this study proposes an integrated system with tail gas treatment to convert MW into value-added products with nearly zero emissions. Herein, steam generators and supercritical CO₂ cycles were used to recover energy from MW to produce high-temperature/pressure steam and electricity. A simple power generation cycle achieved a net electricity efficiency of 22.4% through optimization. Thermodynamic analysis revealed that the most energy and exergy loss occurred in incineration. Furthermore, a pressurized reactive distillation column purified the resultant tail gas. The effects of inlet temperature, pressure, liquid/gas ratio, and recycle ratio on the removal and conversion efficiencies of NO₂ and SO₂ were evaluated. Nearly 100% of the SO₂ and 75% of the NO₂ generated by the incineration of MW have been converted into their acid forms. Based on the proposed tail gas treatment unit, high-purity CO₂ (∼98% purity) was finally obtained.