Gasification Process for Carbonized Waste by Hybrid Steam Plasma

We conducted a feasibility study to determine whether steam plasma can be used for the treatment of carbonized wastes after pyrolysis. In particular, we investigated the gasification of carbonized wastes to reduce their weight and volume and to produce hydrogen, which is attracting much attention as a new source of energy. In this study, we adopted three thermal plasmas— Ar plasma, Ar+O2 plasma and steam plasma—as heat sources to treat carbonized wastes. Charcoal was used as the test subject instead of carbonized waste. The results showed that charcoal treated by steam and Ar+O2 plasmas achieved large weight reductions and that more hydrogen was produced from the charcoal by using steam plasma compared to using other thermal plasmas. These experimental results suggest that gasification, the“water gas reaction”, took place between steam plasma and charcoal.