i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 2 ( 2 0 1 7 ) 1 3 6 1 e1 3 6 5

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A review on plasma gasification for solid waste

disposal

A. Sanlisoy, M.O. Carpinlioglu*

University of Gaziantep Faculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Gaziantep 27310, Turkey

article info abstract

Article history: In this paper a brief review on plasma gasification as a new technology for solid waste
Received 19 February 2016 disposal is presented. Plasma gasification systems can handle not only biomass but also
Accepted 1 June 2016 harmful wastes which can be completely converted into outputs having considerable
Available online 18 June 2016 amounts of useful energy content. There are a variety of plasma gasification systems
which have different design and operation characteristics with the utilization of a great
Keywords: range of fuels. The operation and performance evaluation of a plasma gasification system
Gasification in turn is specified by the required outputs. There is a need for a common approach as a
Plasma function of fuel, system and process characteristics. Furthermore thermodynamic analysis
Microwave plasma of plasma gasification process is still one of the current research topics due to the missing
Solid waste general theoretical treatment and terminology compatible for all of the systems. A critical
Syngas analysis on the available literature in this respect provides a solid contribution to the state
of art. An experimental research on the design and performance of a plasma gasification
system “MCw gasifier” is on site to fill the determined major gaps of the literature which
are outlined in this paper.
© 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

improvements in human comfort. As a result, the necessity of

Introduction
A variety of materials in the world are processed and used for
the needs of human since the start of industrialization.
Despite some of the mass converted into the desired form, the
rest is released to the environment as waste. Therefore the
waste management becomes crucial in municipals. From past
to now, there are many methods used for the waste disposal.
In recent years the recovery from the waste has become sig-
nificant because of the limited materials in nature and
increasing amounts of waste due to increase in the popula-
tion of the world. Furthermore the available energy demand
increased rapidly by the technological developments and the
efficient consumption of both the desired forms of mass and
energy, and high performance recovery make an interest to
the scientific community and forced them to investigate and
develop new processes for the waste management. It is
obvious that, an unconventional method which is found in
plasma gasification systems can be used to convert the waste
into an efficient energy form. It utilizes the conversion of a
variety of so-called fuels such as industrial, medical or
municipal waste types, low grade coals, type of biomasses
into syngas which includes mainly CO, H2 and CO2. The pro-
duced syngas can be used as fuel in combustion systems, for
the generation of electricity and for the production of
hydrogen. In this article, thermal conversion of biomass to

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: melda@gantep.edu.tr (M.O. Carpinlioglu).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2016.06.008
0360-3199/© 2016 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1362 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 2 ( 2 0 1 7 ) 1 3 6 1 e1 3 6 5
energy, gasification methods and the state of art on plasma
gasification are outlined.
Systems for the thermal conversion of biomass
to energy
The methods for the conversion of biomass to energy can be
classified as burning of biomass in furnace, gasification of
biomass in oxygen starved medium and combustion of syngas
which is produced from gasification process with a primary
fuel [1]. In the first method, the waste type of biomass is fired
in combustion chamber and the energy is recovered in the
form of heat. However, the burning the biomass releases a
high amount of emission gases to the environment. For this
purpose, the fuel is subjected to an oxidant starved medium at
high temperature for the synthesis of the biomass into mainly
CO and H2 in the form of syngas. The syngas can be used as
fuel in boilers or combustion chambers with a decreased
emission content. Furthermore to improve the efficiency, the
syngas can be mixed with a primary fuel and used in power
plants to produce heat.
Gasificatione pyrolysis
Gasification is the partial oxidization of the materials in an
oxidant starved medium at high temperatures. As a result of
gasification reaction, syngas is produced. Syngas content can
change depending on the reactor temperature, gasification
material, residence time of material in the reactor, supplied
gas type, supplied gas rate, gasification technique, reactor
type and etc [2].
Likewise gasification which is a thermochemical process,
in the case of pyrolysis process, there is no oxidant with the
existence of high temperature in the reactor. Meanwhile
conventional combustion process takes place with an excess
amount of oxidant [3].
Plasma
Plasma which consists of free electrons, ions, and neutral
particles is defined as the fourth state of the matter. Although
the presence of electrons and charged particles is the fact; the
plasma is considered as neutral entirely. Plasma is thermally
and electrically conductive due to the charged particles.
Plasma can be partially ionized as well as fully ionized [4].
While English scientist Sir. William Crookes brought up the
fourth of matter in 1879, American chemist and physicist
Irving Langmuir defined ionized gases as plasma for the first
time in 1929 [5]. Plasma can occur at different temperatures
and densities. There should be sufficient energy in medium to
form plasma from the gas. Also, energy in the medium should
be continuous to sustain the plasma. If there is not enough
energy to form plasma, the particles will turn to neutral gases.
The energy to form the plasma can be electrical, thermal, ul-
traviolet light and etc. Nowadays, plasma in industry is used
in many applications such as coating, thin film, gasification,
flow control, sterilization, and etc.
There are a variety of methods to classify the plasma.
Classification of plasma depending on temperature
In general, plasma can be classified as high temperature or
low temperature depending on the temperature of the spe-
cies. In terms of the electron temperature, ion temperature
and gas temperature as Te ; Ti and Tg respectively the
following classification can be given as a rough guide:
1) If the electron temperature is much higher than ion and
neutral gas species temperature, the plasma is called as
low temperature plasma.
Te > Ti > Tg /Cold plasma
2) If the all species are at high temperatures, such as between
4000 K (for easily ionized elements) and 20000 K (for a
difficult ionization), the plasma is called as high tempera-
ture plasma [4].
Classification of plasma depending on thermal equilibrium
Plasma can also classified depending on the thermal equilib-
rium of species. If the species are in thermal equilibrium, all
the species should be at the same temperature. In the case of
hot plasma this occurs. Generally, hot plasma is in thermal
equilibrium. The thermal equilibrium condition can only be
provided for cold plasma when the plasma space has a high
pressure. As a result of high pressure, the heat transfer be-
tween species can be enhanced and equilibrium can be pro-
vided. In the case of non-thermal plasma, the temperature of
the species varies. As an example, the electrons having high
temperature because of their low density are with the ions
which are still in the ambient temperature. This is the signi-
fying characteristics of cold plasma. It is known that condi-
tions in plasma medium likewise pressure, the discharge
length or distance between the electrodes and other design
parameters affect the thermal equilibrium condition [4].
Plasma gasification methodology
Plasma gasification process is an allothermal process that
consumes external power to heat up and sustain the high
temperatures. In process, the materials decomposed to ele-
ments in an oxidant starved medium. Because of extremely
high temperature, the higher conversion efficiency can be
reached. Products are primarily syngas, slug and ash. Plasma
with high temperature breaks down nearly all the materials to
their elemental form excluding the radioactive materials [2].
As a result of high temperature, toxic compounds decompose
to harmless chemical elements. In fact this is the serious
advantage it offers in comparison with the conventional
methods of gasification.
The classification of plasma gasification depends on the
plasma discharge techniques and the reactor design charac-
teristics mainly. Plasma discharge can be by Direct Current
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 2 ( 2 0 1 7 ) 1 3 6 1 e1 3 6 5 1363

(DC), Radio Frequency (RF) or Microwave (MCw) [6]. The
discharge methods can be described as below;
Direct Current
The applied high voltage to electrodes in a plasma gas me-
dium break down the gases into ions and electrons which
cause the formation of plasma in the medium.
waste handled are given. The power input range is between
118.8 kW and 0.6 kW with a variety of fuel-waste such as
municipal solid waste (MSW), coal, and some industrial
wastes. The recent studies are primarily utilizing MCw plasma
due to the advantages it offer. However, research on the other
types of plasma (RF, DC) is also continuing due to the exis-
tence of major unknowns on the manner which can be out-
lined as follows:

Radio Frequency 1) The influence of discharge method on the temperature and

An alternative current is applied between the electrodes, so
the electrodes will act as anode for half cycle and cathode for
the remaining half cycle. If the electrodes are isolated, the
electrodes will be charged and the glow discharge will extin-
guish by excitation of an RF signal. However, the electrodes
are gradually charged in half cycle, and partially neutralized in
sequence by using RF discharge. In RF plasma gasifiers; the
electrodes are located on the surface of the reactor and the gas
is supplied inside the reactor. The applied power ionizes the
gases and plasma is formed inside the reactor.
pressure ranges of the process, type of reactor, type of fuel
and plasma medium
2) The performance assessment of a variety of plasma gasi-
fication methods in comparison with the conventional
techniques
3) The critical operational ranges in terms of required power
ranges, efficiency of conversion rates and thermodynamic
analysis
Common types of reactors used previously

Microwave As Tang et al. [6] classified the reactor types for gasification
can be; plasma fixed bed reactor, plasma moving bed reactor,
A microwave, MCw signal is created by Magnetron. It travels plasma entrained bed reactor or plasma spout bed reactor. In
through a so-called waveguide. MCw meets the plasma plasma fixed bed reactor, the gasification material is station-
forming gas breaking it into ions, electrons and neutral par- ary in reactor and the plasma is injected through it. As a result
ticles. It works without an electrode arrangement such that it of gasification, syngas can be extracted from upper portion
is free from the operational problems of electrode utilization. while the slug and ash are collected at the bottom of the
It has a lower voltage requirement in comparison with the reactor. In the case of plasma moving bed reactor, there is a
other methods. continuous material feeding from up to down and plasma is
Although it is not an extensive list a sample tabular pre- injected to the materials in flow. In plasma entrained bed
sentation of the experimental studies on plasma gasification reactor, the material is injected through the plasma medium.
research is given in Table 1. This list describes the samples of Plasma spout bed is a combination of the fluidized bed and
the last decade research. The differences in the type of plasma spouting.
plasma, plasma input power range and the type of the fuel- However there is a severe need for the analysis of a variety
of designs' influence on the plasma gasification. The treat-
ment of an experimental system operation with a variety of
Table 1 e A tabular presentation on the experimental design possibilities particularly for the material feeding and
studies on plasma gasification. plasma environment in the reactor with a specified type of
Reference Type of plasma Power Type of fuel should be studied. The material physical and chemical
gasification range fuel characteristics and in turn material feeding mechanisms,
[7] Microwave 0e6 kW Ethanol accumulation of syngas and disposal of the slug and ash are
[13] DC 118.8 kW Coal the basic design characteristics which influence the plasma
[10] Microwave 0.8e1 kW Spirulina algae gasification.
[18] RF 10 kW MSW with raw wood
[14] Microwave 75 kW Indonesian brown
coal
[16] Microwave 2 kW Glycerol
An outline of recent developments in plasma
[20] Microwave 0e5 kW Shenhua Coal gasification systems
[15] Microwave 4 kW Indonesian brown
coal Thermal plasma gasification performance can change
[8] Microwave 5 kW Coal and Charcoal depending on the plasma power, reactor temperature, flow
[21] RF 10 kW Rice Straw
rate of plasma gas, type of plasma gases and the residence
[9] RF 357e664 W Rice straw
time of material in the reactor, physical and chemical char-
[22] DC e Wood
[12] RF 1.6e2 kW Tire powder acteristics of the fuel (size, and content including the amount
[23] RF 0e2 kW Polyethylene of moisture). These parameters were studied by many re-
[24] DC 100 kW Carpet waste searches. Some of the deductions can be summarized as
USAF BEAR waste base follows;
[19] Microwave 600 W Polyethylene Hrcak et al. [7], Yoon et al. [8] and Tu et al. [9] showed that
[25] Microwave 2.8 kW n-Hexane
the conversion ratio of material into syngas depends on the
1364 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 2 ( 2 0 1 7 ) 1 3 6 1 e1 3 6 5
power consumption of plasma system. If the power level is
high, the conversion reaches up to 99%.
Lin et al. [10] investigated the production of hydrogen by
spirulina algae. They found that the production of hydrogen
was enhanced by increasing the consumption of the micro-
wave power.
Hlina et al. [11] investigated the gasification of woody
biomass, plastics and oils by a 110 kW power plasma system.
The gasification of wood had the best efficiency. Plastic had
shown a close performance to the wood's gasification. How-
ever, the gasification of oil showed a lower performance.
Huang et al. [12] gasified tire waste at different particle
sizes from 200 mm to 600 mm. The particle size of the waste was
found an essential parameter on the performance. Increasing
the tire size was coupled with a decrease in the performance
of gasification and the conversion of syngas. The conversion
of material were found between 40% and 78%.
Lee et al. [13] investigated two different grade coal. Low
grade coal had a better conversion performance because of its
moisture content. However increasing the feeding rate of coal
decreased the conversion performance.
Uhm et al. [14] used the low grade Indonesian coal at
1640 C reactor temperature. The cold gas efficiency reached
up to %84 in this study.
Shin et al. [20] studied the effect of steam flow to coal flow
rate ratio. Increasing the ratio caused an increase in the pro-
duced syngas.
Hong et al. [15] studied the effect of air and steam as supply
gases. In the case of steam usage as supply gas, H2 production
was increased while CO was decreased.
Yoon et al. [16] studied the location of material supply to
the reactor. Supplying fuel close to the plasma injection
caused an increase in hydrogen and syngas production. Using
steam as supply gas caused an increase in H2 production.
However, it decreased the cold gas efficiency and the carbon
conversion rate.
Rutberg et al. [17] used wood which included 20% moisture
by different plasma gases. The air was the simplest and suit-
able agent for the gasification of wood.
Shie et al. [18] found that the moisture content of rice straw
increased the CO and H2 content. It was also shown that the
90% of syngas content was formed in a 3 min operation of the
system.
Sekiguchi and Orimo [19] studied the gasification of poly-
ethylene. They found that supplying steam to the reactor
increased the syngas production.
In reference to thermodynamic analyses of plasma gasifi-
cation processes the following references can be referred:
Sanlisoy and Carpinlioglu analysed the plasma gasification
systems by choosing the reactor as a control volume and
applying the thermodynamic analyses methods [26]. The cold
gas efficiency, hot gas efficiency and exergetic efficiency of the
plasma gasification systems were described.
Kalinci et al. [27] studied the exergoeconomic analysis of a
plasma gasification system for hydrogen production from
sewage sludge. The exergo-economic performance of the
system was evaluated.
However there is a need for an extensive experimental
study in which systematic influence of reactor characteristics,
plasma environment and process characteristics and
operation characteristics are going to be determined.
Furthermore the theoretical treatment of the plasma gasifi-
cation irrespective of the type of the reactor and type of the
fuel utilized through the introduction of common efficiency
parameters is obviously filling a serious gap of the literature.
The critical review of relevant literature is therefore
providing an ease for the design and operation of the experi-
mental research which is the Ph. D thesis of A. Sanlısoy under
the supervision of Prof. M. O. Carpınlıoglu. A MCw gasifier
with the given informative sketch (Fig. 1) is going to be con-
structed and the operation is going to be conducted to deter-
mine the basic gaps listed in the article above, providing a
systematic and extensive data source. The theoretical treat-
ment of plasma gasification process is going to be verified by
the collected data.
Conclusion
A research project, TUBITAK 115M389 which is based upon the
review of the relevant literature is currently on site. An
experimental plant MCw gasifier consisting of the following
basic components a) Plasma Generator, b) Gasification
Reactor, c) Fuel-Solid Waste Feeding-Transporting System, d)
Product (Syngas, slug and ash) Accumulation and Analysis
Components e) Power Suppliers is going to be installed. Mi-
crowave MCw plasma which is known to provide low power
and voltage requirement, high effectiveness and ionization
level, simple and robust reactor design (without the elec-
trodes) as an advantage over DC and RF plasma is going to be
searched for the analysis of the cited advantages. Microwave
signal is used for a variety of solid wastes under the influence
of system, operation (air, steam, oxygen utilization) charac-
teristics for plasma generation. The material (physical
echemical) and thermal characteristics of solid waste and
outputs of the process (syngas, slug and ash) are used to
determine an overall analysis on plasma gasification. The
nature of the operation MCw gasifier is based upon the
determination of the influence of the waste characteristics on
the performance of the plant. Thermodynamic analysis of the
operation is going to be modelled as an important contribu-
tion to the state of art. The systematic operation of MCw
gasifier with an extensive range of the system and operation
characteristics will provide a general performance assess-
ment of plasma gasification. Therefore it will be possible to
evaluate separate and independent research on a variety of
cases on a common basis as a commercial output.
Fig. 1 e Prospective experimental set-up configuration.
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 2 ( 2 0 1 7 ) 1 3 6 1 e1 3 6 5
Acknowledgement
First of all, the authors express their sincere thanks to Prof. Dr.
Mohamed BECHERIF from UTBM Belfort-France for his kind
invitation.
The paper which was revised in reference to the comments
and criticism of the reviewers of ICREGA 16, was presented in
the content of ICREGA 16 in February 8e10, 2016 in Belfort-
France. The authors would like to acknowledge the financial
support of this work by the Scientific and Technological
Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) under the contract
number 115 M389.
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