Design and construction of a laboratory plasma gasification system for municipal solid waste

Abstract

Plasma gasification system technology is one of the definitive low-risk disposal methods. The article discusses the design and construction of a plasma gasification system using a plasma torch. In order to dispose of municipal solid waste, a DC plasma arc flame was implemented. The design and construction of the torch electrodes and their arrangement are such that when waste enters the plasma flame through the upper opening, it is permanently exposed to it. In this way, in addition to better mixing of reactants with plasma, stable performance, better control, and erosion will be reduced. In this system, due to the very high processing temperature, it is possible to remove toxic and contaminated waste. To characterize, analyze and identify torch plasma species and radicals, as well as to determine the electron excitation temperature, an optical emission spectrometer was used. Atomic and radical species such as O, N2, N, NO, and OH radicals were detected in the emission spectrum. Using the conditions of thermodynamic equilibrium and the Boltzmann method, the temperature was estimated at 5.38 eV. The gas composition was reported with the gas chromatography method including O2, N2, CO2, CO, and N2O gases.

Keywords

• plasma gasification
• gasification
• plasma torch electrodes
• optical emission spectrometer
• chromatography