Waste To Energy Technologies

GASIFICATION:

It is a process that changes a carbon base material such as biomass into other forms of energy without actually burning it. It converts the waste materials into a gas via a chemical reaction.
The reaction combines carbon base materials with little amounts of oxygen and breaks them down into simple molecules. The end result is that we will have a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen.
Gasification converts about 80% of the chemical energy in the waste fuel into chemical energy in the gas phase, so it is an effective method.
Air gasification is more commonly seen than oxygen gasification because it is cheaper. Air gasification has a heating value of 4-6MJ/m3 while oxygen gasification has a heating value of 10-18 MJ/m3.

PLASMA GASIFICATION:

Plasma gasification technology can be used to treat industrial and municipal solid wastes (MSW) and applied to gasify coal.
The plasma technology used to gasify coal in ambient pressure, the plasma fired reactor can be retrofitted into existing power plants. The potential benefits are:
Greater feed flexibility enabling coal, coal fines, mining waste, lignite, and other opportunity fuels (e.g., biomass) to be used as fuel without the need for pulverizing
Air blown and thus an oxygen plant is not required
Higher thermal efficiency
High conversion (>99%) organic matter to synthesis gas (syngas)
Lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions
Low estimated capital and operations and maintenance (O&M) costs

PYROLYSIS:

Pyrolysis is a thermochemical treatment, which can be applied to any organic (carbon-based) product. It can be done on pure products as well as mixtures.
In this treatment, material is exposed to high temperature, and in the absence of oxygen goes through chemical and physical separation into different molecules. The decomposition takes place thanks to the limited thermal stability of chemical bonds of materials, which allows them to be disintegrated by using the heat.
Unlike combustion and gasification processes, which involve entire or partial oxidation of material, pyrolysis is based on heating in the absence of air. This makes it endothermic process that ensure high energy content in the products received.