Technological aspects for thermal plasma treatment of municipal solid waste-A review

The 21st century earth is a new world, with numerous urban areas, exponentially growing population, global warming, global markets and with it, increased consumerism which has led us to amass huge amounts of municipal solid waste (MSW). This waste is difficult to manage using conventional methods and is ever increasing, blocking essential space that has become an expensive commodity in today's world. Conventional techniques such as combustion/incineration have been the conventionally preferred method of waste management for several nations in lieu of land-filling, releasing toxic emissions onto an already over polluted environment. In this paper we shall explore a novel MSW management technology in the form of plasma torches and thermal plasma treatment that enables us to reduce waste density by as much as 95%, without any toxic emissions, while producing a synthetic gas as by-product. Synthetic gas or syngas is presently being used to generate energy. Some researchers are also exploring the possibility of hydrogen extraction through this route. This paper discusses the current limitations of this technology and highlights a few researches that are being conducted around the world that may soon take this concept from technical feasibility to practical reality. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.