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Plasma as an Alternative Way to Gas Reforming and Ash Disposal

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Clean Energy from Waste

Part of the book series: Springer Theses ((Springer Theses))

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Abstract

Plasma has long fascinated scientists and engineers, due to its unique ability to vaporize and destroy any chemical bond in the organic and inorganic forms. The use of electricity as input is also very interesting in waste treatment applications, as it decouples the heat generation from the organic fraction, thus allowing for higher flexibility and better control of the processing unit. However the use of electricity is also a main drawback since it is the most expensive form of energy. Furthermore, there is a lack of data on the reliability of plasma treatment that could prevent its development at large scales. These considerations led to the development of multiple-stage processes, where the plasma is used as a post-processing stage for conditioning the product streams generated from the primary gasification unit (e.g. FBG or rotary kiln). In this way, the majority of the energy input to the process is derived from the controlled oxidation reactions of the solid fuel at the gasifiers, which greatly limits the plasma arc electrical power demand which constitutes only a minor fraction of the total energy content of the fuel to the process.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, University College London, London, UK

    Massimiliano Materazzi

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  1. Massimiliano Materazzi
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Correspondence to Massimiliano Materazzi .

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Materazzi, M. (2017). Plasma as an Alternative Way to Gas Reforming and Ash Disposal. In: Clean Energy from Waste. Springer Theses. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46870-9_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-46870-9_3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-46869-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-46870-9

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