Performance assessment of plasma gasification for waste to energy conversion: A methodology for thermodynamic analysis

Abstract

Performance assessment of plasma gasification for solid waste disposal is the main concern of the study. As an extensive review on the manner; the current terminology, definitions and the available theoretical background for thermodynamic analysis are outlined. Thermodynamic analysis is provided in terms of energy and mass conservation giving attention to the calculation routes as a basic contribution to the state of art. The defined first law and second law efficiency terms, ηES,ηEP, ηEXS,ηEXP content conversion efficiency parameters, CCE and hydrogen quality Hq are referred through the so-called process and system descriptions in this respect. The proposed methodology is presented using the available experimental data of Tang et al. [1] and Hong et al. [2] as sample cases for the verification of the study. It seems that the variation of first and second law efficiency terms, CCE, Hq as a function of plasma input power, W besides the defined mass and power scale parameters of Sm and Sw can be referred for the performance assessment of a plasma gasification system (under the influence of solid waste–fuel properties).