Numerical Simulation of Municipal Solid Waste and Biomass Plasma Co-Gasification Process

One of the newest methods of waste management is benefiting from thermal plasma technology in gasification. Plasma gasification is a complicated process that requires much research. Plasma technology, meanwhile, can meet the energy and waste management needs of several communities, but the experimental study is not always feasible. In this study, an Aspen Plus model based on Gibbs free energy minimization is created in order to assess municipal waste and biomass as feedstocks. After validating the model, important parameters were examined which showed that increasing the amount of municipal waste in the feed can help improve the quality of syngas as the product of this process. The best steam to waste ratio for generating the highest amount of hydrogen production was obtained 2. It was also observed that the effect of steam-to-waste ratio on hydrogen production decreases with the increase of temperature above 800 degrees Celsius, and the increase of temperature in low steam-to-waste ratios has a greater effect on the amount of hydrogen production.