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Steam Plasma Treatment of Organic Substances for Hydrogen and Syngas Production

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Abstract

Gasification of several organic materials in steam plasma generated in a special plasma torch with a water-stabilized arc was investigated. Thermal plasma with very high enthalpy and low mass flow rate is produced in an arc discharge which is in direct contact with water. Biomass and several types of solid and liquid organic waste were gasified by plasma aided reactions of materials with water, carbon dioxide and oxygen. Composition of produced gas, energy balance of gasification process and gasification efficiency were determined from measured data. Synthesis gas with high content of hydrogen and carbon monoxide and very low content of carbon dioxide, light hydrocarbons and tar was obtained for all tested materials. Comparison of measured data with results of theoretical computations confirmed that steam plasma gasification produces syngas with composition which is close to the one obtained from thermodynamic equilibrium calculations.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge support of the Grant Agency of CR under the Project Number GA15-19444S.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Plasma Physics ASCR, Za Slovankou 3, 18200, Praha 8, Czech Republic

    M. Hrabovsky, M. Hlina, V. Kopecky, A. Maslani, O. Zivny, P. Krenek, A. Serov & O. Hurba

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  1. M. Hrabovsky
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  2. M. Hlina
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  3. V. Kopecky
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  4. A. Maslani
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  7. A. Serov
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Correspondence to M. Hrabovsky.

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Hrabovsky, M., Hlina, M., Kopecky, V. et al. Steam Plasma Treatment of Organic Substances for Hydrogen and Syngas Production. Plasma Chem Plasma Process 37, 739–762 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11090-016-9783-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11090-016-9783-5

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