METHOD FOR THE PRODUCTION OF SYNTHESIS GAS

Disclosed is a process for the production of synthesis gas by plasma gasification of solid and/or liquid carbon-containing or hydrocarbon-containing material comprising the steps:(i) providing a solid and/or liquid feedstock comprising particulate carbon- or hydrocarbon-containing material or a mixture of both,(ii) providing a carrier gas and combining this with the solid or liquid feedstock,(iii) feeding said solid or liquid feedstock and said carrier gas as a feed stream into a reactor comprising a reaction chamber or into a vaporizer which is arranged upstream to said reactor,(iv) introducing a swirl gas into the reactor which swirls around the feed stream and covers the interior walls of the reactor,(v) treating said feed stream downstream the introduction of the swirl gas into the reactor with a hot plasma to generate a product stream comprising synthesis gas from said carbon- or hydrocarbon-containing material in the reaction chamber,(vi) removing the product stream from the reaction chamber, and(vii) separating the solid ingredients from the gaseous ingredients of the product stream.