Feasibility of non-thermal plasma gasification for a waste-to-energy power plant

Abstract

The feasibility of non-thermal plasma gasification of municipal solid waste (MSW) was investigated by modeling waste-to-energy (WtE) power plants, such as an incineration power-plant cycle and integrated plasma gasification combined cycles (IPGCCs) with thermal and non-thermal plasma gasification. The energy analysis delineated operation conditions of non-thermal plasma gasification, which would improve the energy efficiency of the existing IPGCCs. The sensitivity analysis of the energy efficiency showed that cold gas efficiency (CGE), which is the ratio of the heating value of the syngas to the heating value of MSW, is more important than the power consumption of the plasma source for the energy efficiency. From the exergy analysis, it was revealed that the largest exergy loss of the IPGCC was at the plasma gasification, regardless of the type of plasma source. The total exergy loss of IPGCC could be reduced by adapting non-thermal plasma gasification if a similar level of CGE to thermal plasma gasification is achieved. Therefore, non-thermal plasma gasification should attain a similar CGE level of thermal plasma gasification along with reduced power consumption. Then, using non-thermal plasma gasification instead of thermal plasma gasification for IPGCC would become feasible.